The Last Nobody
by MarisaRoseheart
Summary: #14, Bruixe. The Twilight Avenger. The last survivor of the Organization, with a past she can't forget and a future she can't face. But when she meets the heroes of light, she starts to think otherwise, especially in the face of a similar spirit: Riku.
1. Prologue

Prologue

_Rubie glared back at the Eternal Kingdom behind her as if daring it to follow her. The marvelous white granite city loomed over the horizon, sparkling innocently. _It doesn't look like a city of stuck-ups and fools,_ she thought bitterly. But you could never judge appearances. Never._

_She strode moodily, shoulders hunched, for the outer wall, making for the silver gate that led to the outside worlds. When she got there, she noticed a man in a black coat leaning against it, arms folded. _

_"I've been waiting for you," he said._

_"Who are you?" Rubie asked warily, shifting her shoulder bag to free her right hand, which she rested on the handle of the short sword – a _kodachi _– at her hip._

_"The name's Axel," he said, lowering his hood to reveal a shock of red, spiky hair and emerald-green eyes. "A-X-E-L. Got it memorized?"_

_Rubie raised an eyebrow. "What do you want?"_

_"I've been sent for you," Axel said. He held out a black-gloved hand. "You're the new one, right? Rubesia."_

_Rubie grimaced at the use of her full name. "It's Rubie."_

_Axel grinned. "Is it really? After giving up your heart, can you really keep that name?"_

_"How do you know that?" Rubie demanded._

_"Why else would I be here?" he wondered aloud. "I'm just like you… Rubie. Ugh. What a lame name. Here."_

_He put his hand out so his palm was facing her, and letters conjured themselves out of thin air. Her name…_

RUBIE

_As she watched, the letters flew in a complex pattern, rearranging themselves. There was a flash of light, and Rubie shut her eyes to block it out. When she opened them, the letters read:_

BRUIXE

_"That's better," Axel commented. "Bruixe. A fitting name."_

_She blinked. "I don't understand."_

_"Your new name," he told her. "For your new life, with the Organization."_

_She didn't answer, lost in thought. _A new life?_ she thought. _I can deal with that.

_She stepped forward. "Bruixe it is."_

_He smiled, and together Axel and Bruixe set out for the worlds ahead._

Bruixe opened her eyes groggily, every inch of her body throbbing. There was sand in her mouth; she turned her head to the side to spit, and a bolt of pain split through her body like lightning.

Dimly she registered that there was blood in the sand, and she wondered if it was her own.

_Where am I? _ she wondered. _What happened to me?_

She remembered walking towards the beach with Xaldin and Saïx after arguing with Xemnas. He had been angry because… _why?_ Bruixe's head hurt.

_That's right_. She had taken her Rogues and left the World That Never Was, setting out for the Eternal Kingdom. She had known full well that she had been ordered to intercept the Keyblade bearer at Hollow Bastion.

When she'd returned, Xemnas had been furious. He had been forced to send Demyx, who had been destroyed. Xemnas' fury had been like none Bruixe had ever known.

She'd come down to the beach with Saïx and Xaldin… they had orders to kill her. She'd summoned her Rogues… _they turned on me,_ she remembered. And then, nothing.

Why then, was she still alive?

Bruixe tried to sit up, but her battered body wouldn't let her. She closed her eyes. _Only for a little while_, she reasoned, and let her head drop back against the sand. Soon sleep overcame her, and she fell into its comforting grasp.


	2. Remnants

Bruixe opened her eyes again, and this time she was painfully aware of what she needed to do.

She was alive. _I can deal with that_, she thought. But she had to find out why. Saïx or Xaldin – or somebody – should have come to finish her off by now. Why hadn't they? Not that she was complaining.

She forced herself to sit up despite the pain racking her body. She looked herself over, taking stock of her injuries. _Broken wrist, _she thought. _Sprained knee… damn, something must've hit my stomach._ Her entire abdomen was bruised and swollen, and her ribs were tender to the touch.A wicked cut ran from her right shoulder to the back of her right hip; _from behind?_ she wondered. Sand had gotten into all her cuts. _I must look like hell_, she thought. Her skin – what was intact, at least – was caked with sand, and her long black hair was caught up in more ragged knots than Bruixe wanted to think about.

Bruixe pushed herself up off the sand, staggering as she put weight on her sprained knee. She raised her hand and opened a portal, not willing to walk the length of the beach to the Dark City.

She came through the portal in the glassy balcony area called Twilight's View, treading cautiously, but it was completely deserted. Not even Axel was around, and this was his favorite hangout. She staggered up the stairs, finding the great hall also mysteriously empty. Bruixe wanted to call out for someone, but if anyone was here, they'd likely kill her on sight.

Where was everyone? Even if some of them were out on missions… Bruixe took a mental checklist. _Xemnas, Xigbar, Xaldin. Chances are Xaldin's out somewhere, but Xigbar's usually around. Xemnas is probably out on some balcony obsessing over Kingdom Hearts,_ she reasoned, smirking to herself. _Saïx… he should be here. Axel's ran off… Demyx is dead, but Luxord should be here, too._ Well, there was only one way to find out for sure. Time to take some risks.

She limped into the Proof of Existence, and stopped dead.

The place had been completely destroyed, debris scattered everywhere. The only two doors still standing were the ones into Saïx's and Luxord's quarters.

But the thing that shocked Bruixe the most was that almost all of the glowing entry stones were a deep, ruby red. She'd seen what became of those members of the Organization who died. Their stones turned the same red color she was seeing now. The only entry stone that remained its original sapphire blue was Roxas'.

She sat abruptly on the floor in front of Roxas' stone and gathered her thoughts. The entire Organization had been killed. And, judging by the fact that Roxas was still alive, it had been either him or his other, Sora, that had done it. Bruixe wanted to know if the ones who called themselves DiZ and Ansem had had anything to do with it.

She didn't mourn the deaths of those who had tried to kill her, but… before she left, Axel had confided in her that he was leaving, too. Bruixe wondered if he had ever found Roxas. And Naminé, what had happened to her? Surely the Keyblade master wouldn't have destroyed a young girl. She was said to have been the Nobody of the princess, Kairi. Had she found her other?

_I guess it doesn't matter,_ she thought. _They're all gone_.

Bruixe stood painfully. _I have nothing left_, she realized dully. _No Organization to punish me, no home to go back to. No heart._

_I am the last Nobody._


	3. Destiny Island

It wasn't long before Bruixe was painfully reminded of her injuries. She couldn't prowl around the castle forever, that was for sure. She had to get to a world with actual people, and find herself a decent healer.

She had discovered a few interesting things as she wandered the castle. A black Organization cloak, and a strip of black cloth appearing to be a blindfold, had been haphazardly thrown onto the upper balcony surrounding the castle. Bruixe wondered who they had belonged to. Also scattered around the upper balcony were fragments of glass, wire, and metal – it appeared as if some sort of mechanism had exploded, showering the area with shrapnel.

Bruixe didn't know what it all meant, but she kept the cloak and blindfold, stowing them away in her pack in case she needed them for any reason. She braced herself against the railing of the balcony, resting her injured knee.

She couldn't keep walking around on it like this, that was for sure. And she needed to find someone who could treat her wounded back and broken wrist. _But where?_ she thought desperately. She couldn't return to the Eternal Kingdom – indeed, there wasn't much to return to. Even if there was, Bruixe would never show her face there again. Radiant Garden, the world of Ansem the Wise, would hardly welcome her. No doubt they knew exactly who she was and where she'd come from. Twilight Town was a possibility, but Bruixe hated that world. It reminded her of Roxas, and the people there were unbearably dense. Disney Castle, too, was out of the question – Bruixe doubted the wards there would even let her approach that world, much less enter it. No, the four Union Worlds – those large enough to support commerce and intended to host travellers from any world – were closed to her.

Where, then, could she go?

She thought of the Keybearer, who had utterly destroyed the Organization. He was Roxas' other, so chances were good that he would help her – Sora would undoubtedly share Roxas' just heart. _He might not like the fact that I'm a Nobody… but he doesn't __have__ to know, and even if he finds out,_ _the enemy of my enemy is my friend, right? _ Bruixe reasoned. Surely his world – Destiny Island, was it? – also had a healer who could treat Bruixe. The trick was getting there…

Tentatively she opened a portal to the dark realm. It loomed before her, shadowy depths writhing, beckoning to her. She stared into it, unsure.

"Tell me what to do," she whispered, more to herself than anything else. The portal continued to pulse.

"All right, fine," Bruixe muttered irritably. "No salvation for the damned, I see. Well, no use obsessing over it."

She stepped into the portal and let it whisk her away through the corridors of darkness, opening to a sandy beach bathed in the light of the rising sun. She blinked in the sudden brightness, taking in her surroundings. A town rose up on a hill about a mile before her, surrounded by tropical trees. Across the water about two miles to her left, another smaller island sat on the sparkling seas.

Bruixe stepped towards the town, but her bad knee gave way. She fell to the sand with a groan, the waves lapping the soles of her boots. Hopefully the tide was going out, not coming in; Bruixe didn't pretend to know much about high and low tide.

It was clear she wasn't going anywhere soon, not without help. She drew both kodachis and stuck them in the sand by their hilts, angling them so that the light of the sun would catch on them and be visible in the nearby town. That done, she let herself slide onto the sand, doing her best to pull herself away from the water just in case the tide did come in.

_Surely someone will find me soon,_ she reassured herself. _Surely…_


	4. The Princess and the Hero

Bruixe must have passed out at some point, because she opened her eyes not to island sun but to a white ceiling studded with stick-on pink and blue stars. She tried to roll over but her wounded side throbbed; Bruixe's hand jumped to it automatically, and she found that it had been neatly bandaged. Her wrist, too, had been set and splinted. _Guess I found my healer,_ she thought.

It then occurred to her that a healer couldn't have bandaged her side without removing her clothes. Bruixe pulled the soft white sheets closer around her; she was completely naked, save for her black choker and rose pendant. Panicking, she looked around.

She was relieved to see her clothes neatly folded on a bedside table. She pushed herself up out of the bed, groaning. _Sure is a strange healer's clinic_, she thought as she pulled on her jeans, black halter top, and knee-high boots. The walls were babydoll pink, the door and window frame pure white. The white wooden furniture was painted with a design of baby blue flowers, some sort of island variety, Bruixe guessed.

The door opened. "Hey, you're awake!" said the girl who entered. She had straight red hair and wide, honest blue eyes. Her dress was the exact same color pink as the walls.

Bruixe nodded, starting to piece things together. "You're no healer," she said huskily, voice hoarse from disuse.

The girl smiled. She was Bruixe's age, maybe a little younger. "Nope. I'm Kairi," she said, as if that was an explanation for everything. Her eyes softened. "I was worried when I found you on the beach yesterday, all beat up. I brought you back here – this is my place," she explained, motioning around at the walls.

"You did this?" Bruixe asked, indicating her bandaged side and wrist.

"Yep," Kairi said proudly. "I've been studying healing up at the clinic, and Dr. Samber says I'm a natural. Don't worry, she came too, and was making sure I did everything okay. What happened to you?" She held up a hand. "Wait, nevermind. Let's start with your name."

"I'm Bruixe," she replied. She noticed Kairi's eyebrows twitch at the telltale 'x' in her name, the sign of an Organization member. "I, um… I… well, there were some people who wanted me dead, I guess. They never got around to finishing me off."

Kairi raised an eyebrow. "Is that all?" she inquired softly.

Bruixe was about to lie when a man's voice yelled, "Kairi!"

"Come on up," Kairi called back over her shoulder. "My friend," she told Bruixe. "He comes here a lot."

Bruixe's mouth fell open when she saw the young man.

"Roxas?!" she gasped, shocked.

Immediately the kid's face tensed, his expression hard. "Who are you?" he demanded angrily.

Bruixe couldn't answer. Now that she thought about it, this man's hair was different than Roxas's, and he slouched more than Roxas ever had.

"I said, who are you?" he repeated. This time a weapon – _Keyblade,_ Bruixe realized – materialized in the boy's hand, and he leveled it at Bruixe's throat.

"Sora!" Kairi cried, and tried to push him away.

_Sora?_

"The other," she realized aloud, breathless.

"Sora, stop it," Kairi said, eyes hard but voice quivering.

Sora lowered his Keyblade, but didn't dismiss it. "You knew Roxas," he said. It wasn't a question, but Bruixe nodded anyway. "You're… one of them?"

Bruixe didn't have to ask to know what he meant. She held his gaze. She would not be ashamed of what she was. "A Nobody," she said, daring him to object. "Yeah, that's me."

There was no way she could take this kid in her current state. Some small corner of her brain noted that she didn't know where her kodachis were, in any case. Bruixe held her hands away from her body, palms up, a gesture of peace. "Hey, if I was still with the Organization I wouldn't be here," she pointed out.

Sora opened his mouth to say something, but Kairi cut him off. "Her name's Bruixe," she told him. "I found her on the beach, yesterday. Riku helped me carry her here. She was beat up really bad."

"How?" Sora demanded.

"It's a long story," Bruixe said, hesitating.

"We've got time," he retorted.

"Wait," Kairi interjected. "Riku should hear this, too. Bruixe, do you feel strong enough to go somewhere else?"

Bruixe shrugged. "I'm fine," she said. "Where's the rest of my stuff."

"I threw away your cloak," Kairi replied. "It was almost completely destroyed. Your bracers and knives are in this drawer." She opened the drawer in question and removed the rest of Bruixe's effects.

Bruixe took her things, pulling on her violet bracers – a challenge with her wrist in a splint – and sliding her sheathed kodachis into their slots on her black studded belt. Sora eyed her kodachis suspiciously, but didn't say anything.

"Ready?" Kairi said, and Bruixe nodded, following the two out of the room.


	5. The Dark Hero

Sorry I forgot to put this in the first four chapters. I IN NO WAY OWN ANY OF THESE CHARACTERS. Except for Bruixe, she's mine. The idea of #14 is Square-Enix's, but Bruixe's character is my creation.

Stick around, all you who have made it this far. It's gonna be big. _The Last Nobody_ is way more than just RikuxOC. Don't wuss out on me.

* * *

Sora and Kairi led Bruixe to a dock where several rowboats were tied; they all piled in one, and Sora rowed them out to the other island.

On the beach, four teenagers dashed about, kicking up sand as they fought with each other. Three of them – two boys and a girl – encircled the fourth, who deflected their attacks easily with casual flicks of his blade, an strange blue-and-red sword shaped like a bat's wing.

One of the boys had red hair, and was armed with a blue-and-white blitzball; the other was younger, with a long, thick wooden rod. The girl carried a long rope with weights on either end. The oldest boy, the single fighter, deflected the first boy's thrown blitzball, batting it into the girl's abdomen; he tripped her with a foot and sent her careening into the redhead.

The last boy advanced, wielding the rod like a longsword; they exchanged a few blows, but the oldest would not be denied. He knocked the rod out of his opponent's hand and leveled his peculiar sword at the boy's throat.

"You're unreal, ya?" said the fallen redhead, disentangling himself from the girl as the rod-wielding boy cursed.

The swordsman laughed easily, lowering his blade. "Don't be mad," he told the three. "You guys have come a long way.

He turned and saw Sora, Kairi, and Bruixe. "Hey, scram, you guys," he told the other three over his shoulder. "It's big kid time."

The three defeated kids ran off, feinting at each other as they went. The man's sword vanished – _no, not a sword, a Keyblade,_ Bruixe realized.

Then this must be Riku, the one the Organization had called the 'dark hero'. He was about Bruixe's age, but taller by a few inches. His silvery-blond hair fell casually into his green eyes; his shoulders were broad, his muscled arms shown off by his sleeveless vest over a form-fitting black shirt.

"What's up?" he asked casually, seeing the tension on Sora's face. Up close, he towered over the Keybearer, who Bruixe noticed was shorter than herself.

Kairi stepped gently on Sora's foot, clearly trying to tell him to relax. "This is Bruixe," she said.

The man stepped forward, holding out his hand to shake while studying Bruixe's face. His eyes seemed to bore into the depths of her soul, and she couldn't look away. "I'm Riku," he said.

"Bruixe," she replied slowly, taking his hand. His grip was firm, his hand very warm.

"So there's a person under all that sand," he remarked offhandedly, eyes dancing.

Sora grunted. "Hardly a person," he spat.

Immediately Bruixe whirled on him, eyes flashing. She grabbed the front of his jacket, yanking him forward despite Riku and Kairi's stunned protests. "Don't you dare judge me," she growled in his face. "You don't know me. Keep your pretty mouth shut."

Sora drove his knuckles into the fleshy underside of her arm, breaking her grip. "Don't touch me," he snarled.

"Why not?" she taunted. "You're not that different from me anyways."

Without warning, he lunged at her, Keyblade materializing in his hand. Bruixe barely managed to block it with a hastily drawn reversed-grip kodachi, her arm going numb from the force of his blow.

Before either of them could retaliate, Kairi and Riku were between them, Kairi using her full weight to hold Sora back. Riku didn't touch Bruixe, only thrust an arm into her path; Bruixe stepped back and sheathed her kodachi, crossing her arms moodily across her chest.

"Easy," Riku said. He glanced at Sora, who was still glaring at Bruixe, though he made no further move to attack her. "I think you'd all better tell me what's going on."


	6. Some Catching Up To Do

And here's another. I'm on a roll! This one's longer, hang in there. Again, I don't own any of these characters, but Bruixe is my creation. Enjoy! And review it at the end. I feel like I've bared my soul here. I want to know what you all think.

* * *

"Okay, what's the story here?" Riku asked when the four were settled around a huge paopu tree that curved at a seemingly impossible angle. He had chosed not to sit, but lean against the base of the tree, apparently at ease. Sora and Kairi sat next to each other on the horizontal part of the trunk; Bruixe stood facing them against a nearby palm tree.

"Bruixe here finally woke up this morning," Kairi began. _Clearly she's the peacemaker here,_ Bruixe thought. "I had just explained how we found her when Sora showed up. Bruixe mistook him for Roxas. Sora got mad, and we found out that Bruixe is a Nobody."

Riku's eyes fixed on Bruixe. "Is that true?"

Bruixe nodded unashamedly.

"Explain, please," Riku said. "You knew Roxas?"

Again she nodded. "I joined the Organization right after he did. I was number fourteen. The Twilight Avenger, they called me. Well, the me and the big guys – Xemnas and them – we never got along. Axel and Roxas were really the only ones I could stand. It was Axel who talked me into joining in the first place. Um… about a month ago, I was ordered to oversee things in Hollow Bastion. I… well, I had other things I thought were important, and I didn't go. They ended up sending Demyx instead… then you showed up, Sora, and he was destroyed. When I returned to base… Xemnas was furious. He ordered Saïx and Xaldin to… dispose of me. I don't know exactly what happened, but they never got the chance to finish me off. I woke up and everyone was gone. The castle was completely deserted, and when I went to Proof of Existence, it told be they were all dead, except Roxas… I wanted to see him again. I thought he would know what happened. I knew this was where his 'other' lived, and Roxas had always wanted to meet you, Sora. So I came here."

"So what you're saying is, you're not our enemy," Kairi clarified.

"Exactly."

Riku turned to the other two. "What do you guys think?"

Bruixe slid down the trunk of her tree, spent, until she was sitting with her back against it as she listened to their conversation.

"I don't believe her," Sora said stubbornly.

"Why would she lie?" Kairi wanted to know. "She's got nothing to gain by tricking us here. The Organization's gone."

"Even if they weren't," Riku pointed out, "they tried to have her killed. No way she's working with them after that. Who would?"

"Unless she's lying," Sora argued. "She could be a plant."

"But the Organization's gone," Kairi repeated.

"Still."

"You're just mad she called you Roxas," Riku said.

"You only like her 'cause she's hot," Sora retaliated.

"Don't," Riku warned, his voice dangerously soft. "Don't you dare."

"Sora, enough," Kairi said firmly. "It's two to one. Riku and I believe her. Like it or not, you're outnumbered."

"Whatever," growled Sora, turning his head away. Riku shrugged and looked at Bruixe, who glared moodily at him through her eyelashes, miffed that they'd talked about her like she wasn't there.

"What now?" Riku asked her, sliding to the ground so their faces were on the same level. "You said you wanted to find Roxas, but there's not much to find. Roxas is part of Sora now. So what will you do?"

"I don't know," Bruixe answered truthfully. "I guess… I guess I wanna know about the Organiation. What… what happened? I woke up and everyone was gone."

Riku nodded. "Fair enough."

For the next half an hour Riku waxed eloquent about the events that had occurred since the Heartless War in Hollow Bastion. He told her how Xora had destroyend Xaldin at Beast's Castle; how Sora, the King, and two of the King's men had gained access to the World That Never Was through Ansem's lab in Twilight Town; how Axel had helped Sora, sacrificing himself to allow the group access; how Sora and company had infiltrated the castle, rescued Kairi and Naminé, and eliminated Xigbar, Luxord, and Saïx one by one; and finally, how Riku and Sora had destroyed the Superior with the combined power of the Keyblades.

It was clear by his tone that Riku respected Sora not only as a warrior, but also as a friend, even a brother. Bruixe was forced to rethink her view of the brash Keyblader. _He may be annoying,_ she decided, _but no average warrior could have defeated the Organization, and no weak-hearted fool at that._

When he was done telling the story, Riku looked out at the sea. "If you want to stay on the islands, you're free to," he told her. "I've got room, and I think Kairi does too. But no one's stopping you from leaving, either."

"Not true," interrupted Kairi. "Bruixe, your wrist will be fine as long as you don't use it – you're right-handed, right? I thought so. But the wound on your back will need a few more days to heal, and I'm worried about it getting infected from all the muck in it. I'd like you to stay on the island for a few days, so I can check up on it. Though like Riku says, I'm in no position to force you to stay."

Bruixe shrugged, accidentally jarring the wound in question. She cursed under her breath. "I have no problem with staying here, I guess. I don't really know where I'm going after thi," she admitted softly. "Maybe a few days to think will do me good."

"You can stay with me," Kairi nodded. "That is, if you don't mind pink."


	7. Memories of Another Side

For those of you who haven't watched the secret ending of KH2 Final Mix, I strongly suggest you go to YouTube and watch it. WATCH IT NOW! Otherwise you will be very lost as you read this.

Again, only Bruixe is my creation. All the other characters belong to Square-Enix. Thank you, Tetsuya Nomura.

Later that night, Bruixe lay awake in the bed Kairi had provided for her, staring blankly at the ceiling. Something nagged at the back of her mind, something Bruixe couldn't quite place.

Well, there was no sense laying in bed if she couldn't sleep, now was there? She kicked off the covers and crept quietly out the door, trying not to wake Kairi.

The night air was still, the only sound the gentle buzz of insects in the nearby forest. A gentle breeze caressed Bruixe's face. _This is a good place to think_, Bruixe mused. _Peaceful, but not boring._

She made her way to the beach, where she plopped on the sand and gazed out at the sea. The moon was beginning its ascent over the sky, its pale face almost a perfect circle; by tomorrow night it would be full. The stars twinkled peacefully, and Bruixe found herself wondering which ones were worlds and which were actual stars. Her eyes swept over the skies. _Which is the Eternal Kingdom?_ she wondered.

As she thought about her home, memories sprang unbidden to her mind.

_She was very young, and she had never seen the Keyblade Sanctum before. She looked out over it in wonder, awed by the vast expanse of Keyblades mounted in the earth; although they were far beneath her, at the base of the cliff, she could not see an end to the hoard. _

_Her father stood next to her, his yellow eyes gleaming. "Someday, Rubesia," he told her, "you too will possess one of these keys." He summoned his own; Rubie never got tired of gazing at its ethereal beauty. Its handle was violet, its handguard and blade black; from its chain dangled a diamond-shaped symbol of silver thorns. Silver webs were etched in the handle, and the blade and handguard were designed to look like feathered wings._

_A man approached from behind, and her father turned abruptly, the hem of his black-and-white cloak swirling. She looked up and saw her father's eyes filled with apprehension, the tips of his pointed ears twitching like a cat's._

_"Xehanort," the man said. "The Council will see you now."_

_A few months later, she stood on the same cliff, staring at the man her father had become. His appearance remained unchanged – he still wore the same black shoulder guards and white gloves that he always had, but his eyes were filled with hatred._

_"Daddy," she pleaded, "what happened to you?"_

_He gazed impassively at her, and as she watched, a black figure appeared behind him. Its armor was patterned in red, and it carried a fearsome Keyblade of black, red, and silver. It copied her father's movements exactly, and for a minute Rubie imagined that it was a part of him._

_She tore her eyes from her father and noticed movement below. Three warriors stalked towards the center of the expanse, where three Keyblades stood separate from the rest. Her father snarled unintelligibly at her, and Rubie fled in terror, stumbling as she put as much distance between herself and the thing that was not her father as she could._

Bruixe rubbed the heels of her hands over her eyes, willing the images to go away, but her memories would not let her go.

_She was older now, almost fifteen. The Temple of Heroes was empty save for the meeting of the Council of Nine, deep within; but Rubie stayed away from them, walking the halls around the outside of the Temple._

_She came to a shrine in the wall, set in white marble and gilded with golden designs. _In memory of Ven, wielder of the Shining Key, who fought valiantly in the Keyblade War. Your legacy will never be forgotten. _The broken hilt of a Keyblade was set in the stone._

_A woman came up behind Rubie. "The likes of you are not welcome here, shadow-child," she said coldly._

_Rubie glared at her moodily, but didn't say anything as she slouched out of the Temple. They always kicked her out. So what if Xehanort was the most terrible thing that had ever happened to the Eternal Kingdom? _I am not my father,_ Rubie thought stubbornly._

Bruixe frowned as she thought about how the people of the Eternal Kingdom had treated her. Since the day her father had been defeated, she had been outcast from their society. Living on the streets, life never catered to her. People wouldn't sell to her because she was the 'shadow-child,' the 'spawn of Xehanort.' She would steal to survive – because she had to! – but they only used it as proof of her treachery.

_They treated me like dirt,_ she thought bitterly.

That's when she had found the darkness. It had been a terrible power… but Bruixe – Rubie, back then – had seen it as a way to prove herself. She could still remember the first time she had used it.

_Rubie sprinted helter-skelter towards the great smoking column, skidding to a stop a good twenty feet from it; she could feel the heat radiating off of the blaze. It had been an old storehouse, she remembered. No one used it anymore, but a few people took shelter in it on especially cold days – days like today._

_By the ring of soldiers around it, the Council was going to let it burn. Rubie ran up to the closest soldier, who wore the blue armband of a captain. "Hey," she said. "There are people in there!"_

_He stared at her and realized who she was. "Get out of here," he ordered. "This is no place for demons."_

_She growled and pushed past him, through the ring of soldiers, and dove recklessly into the blaze, despite the captain's shouts of protest._

Bite me,_ she thought._

_Inside, the smoke was so thick she could barely see. Flames danced over every inch of the building – _why do they build these things out of wood?_she thought angrily. _

_She could hear a woman's terrified scream ahead. She ran instinctively towards it, ignoring the blistering heat on her skin. She spotted the woman ahead, crouched in a corner, clutching a child no older than two or three to her chest._

_Rubie dashed toward them, but stopped short. Between her and the woman was a solid wall of flame, feeding on a support beam the width of Rubie's entire body. _It must have fallen from the ceiling,_ she realized._

_There was no way she could move it. Her heartbeat accelerated as she held out her hand to the blaze. Taking a deep breath, she willed the beam to vanish._

_A torrent of darkness rushed through her body and into the beam; it dissolved into nothingness before Rubie's eyes._

_The woman screamed again, now shielding the child from Rubie. Confused, she looked down at herself. _

_The darkness swam over her skin, pulsating, writhing, seemingly alive._

_Rubie gasped involuntarily and inhaled a lungful of smoke. Coughing, she managed to choke out, "Come on! I'll help you!"_

_The woman's hand was shaking as she took Rubie's, but Rubie ignored it; she turned and led the woman back out of the storehouse._

_It was the next day, and Rubie was seated before the Council of Nine, apprehensive._

_"You deliberately used the power of darkness," Councilor Isalena was saying._

_"To save someone's life!" Rubie argued angrily._

_"Disobeyed a direct order from a Kingdom captain," Councilor Danthus added._

_"He didn't know there were people in there!"_

_Councilor Velkin pounded his fist againt the table. "Silence, shadow-child. The use of darkness is strictly forbidden in the Eternal Kingdom. You know this."_

_"She follows the same path as her thrice-cursed father," Danthus growled._

"I AM NOT MY FATHER!" Bruixe screamed.

The gentle lap of the waves against the shore reminded her that she was no longer in the Eternal Kingdom. She fell back against the sand, exhausted, and let the waves soothe her.


	8. A Vision

I don't own the characters, except Bruixe. By now you know the drill.

The reference to 'Xehanort' is not the same Xehanort as Ansem the Wise's apprentice. This Xehanort is the one that will be appearing in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, coming out for the PSP later this year. Go read the news releases. I recommend Kingdom Hearts Ultimania, at chapter eight. Enjoy. Review, please!

* * *

Bruixe stood up roughly, shaking, and ran her hands through her black hair, trying to force herself to calm down. _They're just memories,_ she told herself. _What's done is done. That's over now._

It was why she'd given herself to the darkness. She had always believed that the past was unchangeable. She had tried to put her father behind her. But the Eternal Kingdom wouldn't let her. So she gave up on them. She had tried to kill herself, that fateful day at the heart of the Eternal Kingdom. But the darkness had failed her. Xemnas had told her that her heart was too strong for the darkness to destroy. She had become a Nobody. It was okay with Bruixe, at first. Nobodies couldn't feel sorrow, or jealousy, or pain.

She scuffed her heels against the sand. Why had she come out here in the first place? She couldn't dwell on the past. What was important now was the future.

She walked a ways down the beach until the other island came into view. That was where Sora had first summoned the Kingdom Key. Bruixe wondered who it had once belonged to. Terra? Aqua? It had to have been someone who fought in the Keyblade War. All the others had been destroyed.

She turned around, intending to return to Kairi's home, and stopped dead in her tracks.

Before her stood her father, Xehanort the Cruel.

Bruixe couldn't move; she could hardly even breather. It defied all possible logic. Her father had been killed long ago. Then how –?

"Surprised to see me?" Xehanort smirked. "It's been a long time, Rubesia."

Bruixe couldn't answer.

"Oh, it's 'Bruixe' now, isn't it?" he went on. "Disgusting. Why you'd give yourself to the darkness, I'll never understand."

"To get away from you," Bruixe finally spat.

He laughed. "How naïve. I imagine you tried to kill yourself, yes? And ended up a Nobody instead. Poor fool. I couldn't let you go. I've invested far too much in you to let you give up."

"What do you mean?" she demanded.

"I couldn't let those Council fools disrupt my work," answered Xehanort. "Hmph. Executing me isn't enough. Even in death, my legacy must continue. And who better to carry it on than my darling daughter?"

"Shut up," Bruixe growled. "I'll never to anything for you."

Xehanort laughed again. "You won't be able to resist," he told her softly. You crave power. The power to conquer your demons… the power to repair your shattered past… the power to undo your dark deeds…" His yellow eyes gleamed with anticipation. "You can have all this, and more. Take up my blade, Bruixe."

He held out a hand, and his Keyblade formed in his grip. He stabbed it into the sand; its black-and-silver hilt sparkled in the starlight.

"Take it," he said. "And with it, take your destiny into your own hands. Are you strong enough? I give you my strength, daughter."

Then he was gone. Bruixe looked around wildly, but suddenly iron aroms froxe her in place. One white-gloved hand held her jaw clamped shut; the other pinned her arms to her sides.

"So that you will continue my legacy," Xehanort's voice whispered in her ear. Tendrils of ice seemed to flow through his fingers into Bruixe's body. She struggled to escape, but her strength failed her, and she knew no more.

Bruixe came to as the moon was setting over the horizon. She blinked up at the stars. _Was it a dream? My father couldn't have been here…_

But as she stood up, her father's Keyblade gleamed at her from the sand.

Unable to stifle her curiousity, she picked it up. The grip was warm and friendly in her hand, as if it had been made for her. _Fallen Angel,_she remembered it was called. _Aptly named._

She held it out experimentally, testing its weight, then twirled it in a figure eight, first over one shoulder, then the other. Satisfied, she focused her thoughts, and it winked out of existence.

_I don't have to like him to use his weapon,_ she told herself. _Who cares about his legacy. This is about __me._

She glanced back once at the pale moon, and then turned to go back to the town.


	9. Laughter

Bruixe returned to Kairi's house and managed to get a few hours' more sleep before the bright summer sun streaming through the window woke her. Kairi was already gone, but she had left Bruixe a note:

Bruixe,

I'm going out to the island with Sora. Riku should be coming, too. You should join us! I left my boat at the dock for you.

Kairi

_Why not?_ Bruixe thought.

She hiked out through the town to the docks and spotted Kairi's boat. It was unmistakable – a design of pink flowers and star-shaped paopu fruit was painted on the hull. Bruixe frowned. The girl was obsessed with pink.

Bruixe was about to climb in when it occurred to her that she had no idea how to row the damned thing. She had seen Sora do it once – but she wasn't confident enough to do it herself.

Just when she was about to give up and go back to Kairi's, she heard a man's heavy footsteps behind her. She turned to see Riku coming towards her, smirking. "Stuck?" he mocked.

"Shut up," Bruixe muttered, scowling. "Not all of us were raised on freaking islands."

"Hey, it's okay," he told her. "We can take my boat."

"Have you lived here all your life?" Bruixe asked to kill the silence as Riku rowed them out to sea.

"Yeah," he told her. "Didn't always want to, though. When I was a kid, I always wanted out of this place. But once I actually left – it was like I couldn't wait to get back. It may be small, but it's my home, you know?"

Bruixe nodded. Maybe there was more to Riku than she'd first thought. He was extremely handsome, she noticed. Muscular, but not overly so like Xaldin had been. _You don't need a heart to appreciate a good-looking man, _she thought.

Riku rowed them up to the dock without even breaking a sweat. Kairi and Sora were nowhere in sight. A peculiar look crossed Riku's face.

"I know where they are," he said, smirking once more. "Follow me, and don't make any noise."

Bruixe opened her mouth to ask why, but he was already moving across the beach. He led her to a massive tree at least twenty feet wide, which had a hole large enough to walk through in its base, near the face of a cliff. A sparkling waterfall coursed down over the cliff, ending in a crystal pool a few inches shallow at some points; at others, it would be over Bruixe's head.

As they entered the cave, Bruixe realized that the tree was hollowed out, partially cut away on one side to connect to a cavern in the rock. Riku held a finger to his lips and pointed to the center of the cave; Sora and Kairi were there, kissing passionately, so tightly pressed together that in the dim light they appeared to be a single entity.

Bruixe raised an eyebrow; Riku shrugged. He picked up a rock the length of Bruixe's little finger, and let fly; it connected with Sora's temple, and he staggered back away from Kairi, accusing eyes probing the shadows for the perpetrator.

Riku's next shot nailed Sora in the forehead, though not hard enough to cause lasting damage. Sora lunged at the spot where it had come from, clearly unable to see Riku in the shadows. But Riku was already gone, dragging Bruixe by the hand as they fled the cavern, putting as much distance between themselves and the furious Keybearer as they could.

Riku realeased Bruixe's hand as he doubled over in laughter, bracing his hands on his knees. Bruixe, too, couldn't stifle her chuckles.

After a minute, though, she stopped abruptly, clapping a hand to her mouth.

Laughter.

Why was she laughing? How was it possible?

Nobodies didn't feel joy. But… for a moment there, Bruixe had certainly felt… _what? Happy?_ she wondered.

Whatever it was, it was gone now. Any mirth she may have felt was long gone, replaced by the dull nothingness Bruixe was so accustomed to.

"What's wrong?" Riku asked, his laughter fading.

"Nothing," she whispered.

He appeared concerned, but Sora chose that moment to burst out of the cave, followed by a very red-faced yet giggling Kairi. "Riku!" he yelled.

The cocky grin reappeared on Riku's face. "Having fun?"

Sora tried to punch him, but Riku backed up, holding his hands up in an innocent gesture. He pointed to Sora's forehead, which was beginning to swell. "You'll have a bruise," he mocked. "Better have Kairi kiss it."

At this Sora tackled his friend, and they fell into the waterfall pool, simultaneously trying to avoid drowning and beat the crap out of each other. Riku threw Sora off, now dripping from head to toe, and climbed out of the pool as Sora spluttered. He shook his head like a dog, showering Kairi and Bruixe with droplets.

"Hey!" Kairi protested.

Riku chuckled. "A little water never hurt anyone. …Hm." He shoved both girls into the pool.

Bruixe managed to avoid cracking her head on the bottom, but still ended up with a mouthful of cold water. "Asshole," she choked as Riku plunged in after them. She shivered in the frigid pool, goosebumps springing up on her arms. She splashed Riku idly, and he laughed again.

He reached out and pushed a matted strand of black hair away from Bruixe's face, and she felt suddenly warm despite the water. He gazed at her, eyes smouldering, the same look he'd had when they first met.

"What?" she asked self-conciously.

"Nothing," he shrugged. "It's just, your eyes… I've never seen that color before."

Bruixe looked at her wavery reflection in the pool. Her eyes were unnatural, a metallic silver. "I guess they are different," she acknowledged.

"They're beautiful," Riku said unexpectedly, then seemed surprised at himself. Sora wolf-whistled from behind him, but Riku splashed him, and an all-out water fight ensued. Bruixe participated enthusiastically, but a part of her mind couldn't forget the look in his eyes when he looked at her… or the fact that he was the first person she'd met in eleven years that could make her laugh.


	10. Sparring, Stars, and Sunset

Here's 10. Enjoy. I don't own the characters, blah blah blah, only Bruixe is mine. Review, please!

* * *

The four were drying in the sun when Sora finally stood, stetching. "Man, I'm bored," he commented. "Wish something would happen." 

"Careful," Kairi warned. "Ask for trouble and you might get it."

"What do you do for fun, Bruixe?" Riku prodded.

She shrugged. "Axel and Roxas used to prank Demyx and Xigbar. Um… We used to spar a lot, too."

"Now there's an idea," Sora said thoughtfull. "Riku, you wanna go?"

"Nah," Riku declined. "Remember what happened last time? We fought for over an hour, and nobody won."

"You promised me a rematch," Sora pointed out.

Riku shrugged. "Not today, man. I've still got bruises. …Hey, Bruixe. You're a fighter, right? Show us what you've got."

"What, you'll fight her, but you won't fight me?" Sora protested.

"We've never seen Bruixe fight before," remarked Kairi.

Bruixe stood. "Alright, you're on," she said cockily. She removed the belt that held her kodachis and threw it asied, where it thumped into the sand. Then, holding out a hand, she summoned her new Fallen Angel.

Kairi gasped; Sora stuttered, "A Keyblade?" Riku merely raised an eyebrow and called his own Soul Eater to his hand.

"I won't go easy on you," he informed her.

"I wouldn't expect you to," she countered.

Sora and Kairi retreated to the ledge overlooking the beach so that they could referee. Riku back up so that he was a good ten feet from Bruixe. He took a high stance, Soul Eater poised above his shoulder. Bruixe turned so her right shoulder was facing him; she held her Fallen Angel easily in one hand, across her lap. It occurred to her that she had never used it to fight before.

"Kick her ass, Riku," Sora called competitively. Kairi punched him, then raised a hand in the air. "Ready? Go!" she shouted, and dropped her hand.

Riku charged at Bruixe, sweeping down with his blade; Bruixe whipped her own up, meeting his strike halfway, then counterattacked with a left roundhouse kick, which he dodged. He slashed again, and their Keyblades clashed once more. Bruixe's arm already stung from the blows. _He's stronger than me,_ she thought, _his blade's longer, and I'm on the defensive. But I'm faster._

No sooner had she thought this than Riku's foot caught her across the backs of the knees and she fell backwards, unbalanced. Instinctively she launched herself into a backwards roll, coming to her feet in time to block two more swift chops to her head. Taking the offensive, she darted around him, whirling her Keyblade in a lightning series of attacks.

Only one connected, clipping Riku's left shoulder. He winced but retaliated with a full-bodied charge, trapping the two Keyblades between their bodies, trying to force Bruixe to fall to the ground.

Bruixe did exactly that, dropping to her knees. With her free hand she grabbed a fistful of sand and threw it up into Riku's face. No one had ever said she didn't fight dirty.

But it didn't seem to affect him; he flicked Soul Eater, and Bruixe's Keyblade flew out of her hand, skidding across the sand. Riku lowered his key so that it rested on Bruixe's shoulder, just against her neck.

"Damnit," Bruixe cursed as Sora cheered and Kairi declared, "Match!"

Riku offered his hand to Bruixe, pulling her up off the sand. "You're really good," he conceded. "You actually hit me."

Bruixe made a face and called her Keyblade back to her hand, dusting off the sand before dismissing it. Riku did the same.

"You should fight Sora," he suggested.

"No thanks," Bruixe said, shuddering. "I'm not stupid. I used to spar with Roxas, and that is not worth the bruises."

Kairi giggled. "Hey, the fact that you can even keep up with these guys is amazing to me," she said.

Bruixe shrugged. "I'm no pushover."

"True," Riku said. "Sora, I still owe you a rematch."

"Tomorrow. It's getting late," Sora replied. "We should head back.

"Let's watch the sunset first," suggested Kairi.

The four climbed up through the old seaside shack to get to the paopu tree. It was a tight squeeze to get all four of them on the bench-like trunk, but they did, and Bruixe ended up on the end, next to Riku.

She was so close to him she could feel the warmth coming off his skin. Her breath caught, but she coughed to cover it up. To distract herself, she gazed out at the sea. The sun was bloodred as it slipped below the horizon, throwing off rays of orange, pink, and violet that seeped gently into the sparkling waters.

No one said a word as the sky gradually faded to black, the stars twinkling merrily down upon them. They returned to the docks, where Sora and Kairi lingered for a moment. Riku pulled Bruixe towards his boat, whispering, "We've teased them enough for one day. Let's go."

"This place is a paradise," Bruixe sighed as they rowed towards the main island. "A person could spend their whole life here, and never want anything more."

"You haven't experienced the school year yet," he joked. Then his face became serious. "You know… you could always stay. Or, you know, come back, after you do whatever it is you're doing next."

_Next?_ Bruixe thought. _What's next? I don't know where I'm going. But… _She stared out at the ocean. "I don't belong here," she said softly. "This is no place for me… for a Nobody."

"For a Nobody, you sure have a great laugh," Riku remarked.

Bruixe could see by the look in his eyes that he knew exactly what had bothered her that afternoon by the waterfall. She looked away, unable to reply.

Neither of them spoke again until they pulled up to the docks. "Thanks for the lift," she mumbled as she started off for Kairi's house.

"Wait." Riku caught her by the elbow, turning her towards him; his face was less than eight inches from her own. "Bruixe… there's something you're not telling us."

Bruixe held his gaze, refusing to back down. "Believe me," she said, "if I knew anything, I'd tell you. I don't know what happened today… but…" Her voice trailed off.

"But what?" Riku prodded.

"Maybe… maybe I did feel something," she admitted. "I don't know what. But… thank you, Riku. After all… I haven't laughed like that in eleven years. Even if I'm not supposed to be able to feel happiness… even if it wasn't real… it was nice."

"You're welcome, I guess," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Don't really know what I did… but you're welcome." He released her arm, and this time Bruixe made it to the end of the docks before he called softly after her, "Good night."


	11. Lost, But Not Forgotten

Bruixe fell asleep almost instantly after Kairi had gotten home and checked Bruixe's back. But her sleep was restless, haunted my dreamlike memories both vivid and vague.

_It was autumn of her fourteenth year, and the gossips were saying that the Great Liberator had returned to the Eternal Kingdom after seven long years. Rubie fled to the Temple of Heroes and pressed herself against the door to the Council Room, listening intently. Councilors Striask, Aeson, and Demetre were there, debriefing the prodigal warrior._

"…_entrusted to __children__?" Striask was saying._

"_The age of the Keybearers is over," replied a deep male voice, which Rubie assumed belonged to the Liberator. "These 'children' are the last of our legacy. They are the future. When the time comes, they will be the ones to decide the fate of light and dark. Our work is finished."_

_Aeson, the youngest Council member, spoke softly. "And what of the Fair Swordmaid?"_

_The Liberator hesitated. "I… I know not. She was never the same… not after what happened to Ven. It's been…three years, since I've seen her."_

_There was a long silence, then Aeson asked, "You don't even know if she lives?"_

"_Not for certain," admitted the Liberator. "But… I have a feeling she's still out there, somewhere. It seems right, for her. …Now, if you please, Councilors, I am weary…"_

"_Of course," Demetre said graciously, her voice smooth and even._

_Before Rubie could react, the door swung open forcefully and she fell backwards onto the marble floor. She scrambled to her feet and found herself face-to-face with the Great Liberator._

_It had been seven years since she had laid eyes on the man who killed her father. The years had changed Terra; his brown eyes had the haunted cast of those who had seen terrible tragedy. Rubie knew he was in his mid-twenties, but the premature lines in his face and the set of his shoulders gave him a much older appearance._

_Rubie started to turn away, but Terra's firm grip restrained her. "Changeling," he said in his deep, rough voice. "It's been too long."_

_She didn't reply, only looked at him._

"_You've been well?" he asked her. Then he shook his head. "No, that's wrong. Of course you're not well. Who would be, in your position?"_

_Finally Rubie spoke. "I don't fault you. I never did."_

_He nodded. "Yet still there is anger in your heart."_

"_Of course there is," she spat. "These people, this world – they don't see me. All they see is __him__. I should thank you, for ridding me of that scum," she went on vehemently. "But they'll never admit he's gone."_

"_Peace, Changeling," Terra said softly. "You'll find your place, too."_

_Rubie met his eyes with her own eerie silver, trying to unsettle him. It was foolish – nothing shook Terra's rock-solid calm. He spoke again. "I can sense the future," he told her. "What it holds. What it brings. A great peril is coming, one that only your generation can stand against. Don't think you have no place among them, Changeling. I have seen your heart, and I speak the truth when I say that yours is among the strongest of them all. The people may not accept you," he said, "but it will only make you stronger, and you will be the only one that can save them." _

_He released Rubie's arm, and she ran from him then, trying not to let him see her tears._

" 'I have seen your heart,'" Bruixe whispered, recalling his words. She snorted to herself in the darkness of Kairi's guest room. "My heart is gone."

But she knew it wasn't true. She'd willingly given her heart to the darkness, trying to kill herself, to escape the pain of exclusion. But her heart had been too strong, and instead of dying, she'd become a Nobody.

She knew from the research Xemnas had done uner Ansem the Wise that such hearts weren't destroyed, only lost. It was why Xemnas had embarked on a vicious hunt for Kingdom Hearts – to attempt to recover his lost heart.

Bruixe stood and made the bed before leaving the room. She knew what she had to do.

_Dear Kairi,_

_I guess I won't see you again, but I just wanted to say thanks for everything you've done for me. Sora and Riku too – you've all been really good to me, even if I didn't necessarily deserve it. So, thanks. _

_I don't know exactly where I'm going, but I know one thing – I have to find my heart, no matter what it takes. It's still out there somewhere, and until I find it, I'll never be whole. I know I can find it. It's been lost, but not forgotten. Who knows? Maybe I'll come back and see you guys again. I know I'll miss this place, even if I've only been here a short time._

_Thanks again, guys. You made it a good time._

_Bruixe _

She left the note on the kitchen table, where Kairi would find it in the morning. She stepped out into the night, where the still air welcomed her like a lover. This was how she'd always preferred it – working alone, just her and the darkness. Bruixe looked back only once as she left the town; then she opened a portal to the dark realm, and left.


	12. Heartless, Or Something Worse

Hope you like it. Once again, the characters belong to Square-Enix. Except Bruixe.

Oh, and the Between refers to the field that Sora and co. ran through at the end of KH1. Riku and Mickey were in it too, after CoM, for those of you that played that. I wrote it as the realm between worlds; if you walked far enough on the right paths, you could literally walk to any world.

Without further ado, we're off.

* * *

Bruixe wandered the grassy fields of the Between, not sure of exactly where she was going, just letting her feet take her where they would. The path stretched out far ahead of her, winding out of sight; around her, the only sound was the gentle breeze through the tall grass.

It was cold here, so she had donned the Organization cloak she'd found. The blindfold was still in the pocket; Bruixe often ran her fingers over it, wondering who it had belonged to. The cloak was a little too big, but Bruixe guessed it didn't really matter.

Suddenly there was movement on the path ahead of her. Bruixe tensed, summoning her Keyblade almost automatically. She crept forward, boots making close to no sound on the dirt path.

Two Heartless stumbled out of the grass, Soldiers by the look of them. They spotted Bruixe and began their eerie, jerking dance; their armor clanked as they ran towards her.

_Heartless __here__? In the Between? Well, at least there's only two of them. No problem._

Bruixe whipped Fallen Angel in a low sweep in front of her, sending both creatures flying backwards; she charged at the closest one, raining a series of blows on its head. It fell to the ground, but seemed untouched.

_What?_

The other jumped her from behind, and Bruixe barely managed to deflect it with a double-handed block, one hand flat along the blade. She backed up along the path to keep them on one side of her. _Why don't they die? Any normal Heartless would be gone by now._

The Soldiers charged her again, and this time Bruixe lunged at the one she'd been attacking, thrusting forward with her Keyblade. The Soldier screamed as it died, a horrible, screeching sound that literally knocked Bruixe off her feet.

_What the hell are these things?_ Bruixe thought desperately. _Heartless don't scream._

The remaining Soldier spun forward in a Cyclone, breaking through Bruixe's guard and sending her skidding down the path. Fallen Angel clattered to the ground, out of her reach. She raised a forearm in a last-ditch attempt to avoid the finishing blow she knew was coming, thinking, _How can I lose to a couple of Soldiers?_

But a flash of eerie bluish light engulfed the Heartless, and it disappeared. Bruixe looked up to see someone she didn't expect.

Riku sauntered towards her, Soul Eater held loosely at his side. "Miss me?"

Bruixe was dumbfounded. "You… where did you come from?"

"Same place you did," he responded cheekily.

"You followed me?" Bruixe demanded.

Riku grinned. "Well, yeah," he told her. "See, Kairi said you left without the meds you needed –" he produced a bundle of bandages and a white bottle from his pack – "and I figured you could use a little company, so I followed you."

She raised an eyebrow. "That's all?"

"Um, sort of," he said, looking sheepish. "I guess… I guess I was worried about you, too. But I figured even you could beat a couple of pushovers like those Heartless –"

"Those weren't Heartless," Bruixe interrupted.

"Huh?"

"Those were way too strong to be Heartless. And Heartless don't scream," she went on. "We got Heartless all the time, in the World That Never Was. You could get rid of 'em in two hits. These… these were something worse."

Riku crossed his arms. "Well, whatever. In any case, if I hadn't followed you, you'd be toast."

Bruixe couldn't deny that. "I owe you one," she admitted.

"Well, you could repay me by letting me tag along," he smirked. "Where are you going, anyway? You've been wandering for hours."

"I don't know," Bruixe said offhandedly, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "Where do you want to go?"

"Hey, I'm just tagging along!" he protested. Then he paused thoughtfully. "Well," he began, "if you don't know where your heart is, you need to find someone who does. There's this guy I know who's seen his share of interesting stuff. We could go ask him if he knows anything."

"Doesn't matter to me," Bruixe said. "I was just wandering anyway. Where's this guy live?"

"Disney Castle," Riku replied. "Lucky for you, we're sort of close."

Bruixe followed him down the path, hands shoved in the pockets of the cloak that was too big, thinking. _He was… worried about me?_

After a minute, Riku turned around. "Is that my cloak?"

If Nobodies could blush, Bruixe would be beet-red. "I, I don't know," she stammered. "I just found it in the castle, and mine was trashed, so I took it."

"Was there a blindfold with it?"

Wordlessly Bruixe handed it to him. Riku gave a short, soft laugh. "Well, I don't need it anymore, so I guess you can keep it," he said. "It's pretty warm."

Bruixe nodded. "Aren't we supposed to be going somewhere?" she pointed out. "I don't know the way. I thought you were the braniac behind this. Come on, Mr. Leader, let's move."

"Hey, I'm not the leader," he protested as they started down the path again. "Whose heart are we looking for, again?"

They continued to mock each other as they travelled towards Disney Castle, the only two people in the Between.


	13. The Mouse King

For those of you that haven't already, check out my poll. It's gonna be kind of crucial to the story coming up here, and I haven't decided yet, so it's gonna be up to you. Confused? Just take the poll.

Read my other disclaimers too. I don't feel like repeating them.

I know this one's kinda short, but it took forever to write because it's one of those things I haven't really planned. I knew what I wanted before and after it, but I needed some way to cross the gap, and so I dredged up some Disney Castle. Enjoy.

Riku and Bruixe had only walked for an hour before the grassy fields of the Between gave way to a massive precipice that dropped off into nothingness. This abyss, Bruixe knew, marked the end of the Between and the entrance to a world.

"This way," Riku called, leading her down to a land bridge of sorts that stretched out across the expanse. This was Bruixe's least favorite part of trans-world travel. The bridge was scarcely three feet wide, and had no railing. Falling would mean an eternal plunge off the edge of existence. "I hate this part," she grumbled.

Riku laughed. "Don't slip."

Before them, across the abyss, loomed a bright castle with white walls and blue turrets, flying a flag with a peculiar three-circle design. One circle was large, the other smaller and arranged at the top to look like ears atop a round head.

"You first," Riku said. "If you fall, I'll catch you."

"Who's falling?" Bruixe challenged, striding boldly onto the bridge. Riku laughed, but followed a few steps behind, matching her pace.

It took a good ten minutes to cross the bridge, and Bruixe realized that the castle was much bigger than she'd first though. "How are we gonna find your mate in all this?" she wondered aloud.

"Easy," replied Riku confidently. "He'll be in the throne room."

"He's the king!?"

"Yeah," Riku chuckled.

_Why do I feel like he's always laughing at me? _Bruixe wondered. _It's annoying._

They entered the throne room through a small door built into a much larger set of doors that stretched all the way to the ceiling. Riku strode a few paces down the long red carpet leading to the throne, then held out his arms. "It's been awhile, Your Majesty."

"I thought I told you not to call me that," said the king, coming down from his throne to meet them.

Bruixe had never seen anything like him. _He's… a mouse?_ The king wore a red vest with white and silver trim; his feet were abnormally large, and he wore white gloves. "How are ya, Riku? And who's this?"

"Pretty good," Riku shrugged nonchalantly. "King Mickey, this is Bruixe. She's my girlfriend."

"What!?" Bruixe protested. "No, I'm not."

"Well, you're my friend," he responded. Bruixe's face remained impassive. "And you're a girl. So wouldn't that make you my girl-friend?"

"You wouldn't call Kairi your girlfriend," Bruixe pointed out. "Would you?"

"I could," Riku considered. "But… Sora would probably kill me."

Bruixe couldn't help but laugh at his cheeky smirk.

Riku's eyebrows snapped up, and just as quickly as it had set in, Bruixe's laughter was gone. _Second time in as many days, _she thought. _No way this is normal. What the hell is going on with me?_

Riku folded his arms and turned to Mickey. "Bruixe is the reason we're here," he told the tiny king.

"Bruixe?" Mickey repeated, emphasizing the 'x'.

"I'm a Nobody," she told him. "Formerly of the Organization. Number 14."

Mickey looked awed. "I'd heard about ya, but I didn't think I'd ever meet ya," he said. "You're… the Twilight Avenger?"

Bruixe nodded. "You've heard of me?"

"I… Welp, I didn't know your father, but I knew of him. And Ansem told me your story," said the king.

Bruixe nodded again, slowly. _Riku still doesn't know,_ she thought. _I hope this mouse guy doesn't let anything slip._

"Bruixe thinks her heart is out there somewhere," Riku explained, apparently uncaring about Bruixe's father or background. "We want to find it. Do you know anything?"

"Welp," Mickey began, "I don't know where you could look, but my late friend Ansem would've. Why don't ya check his computer, in Radiant Garden?"

Riku scratched his head. "I didn't think about that."

"Is that the guy who was running around the World That Never Was with that DiZ guy?" Bruixe wanted to know.

"No, that was me," he replied, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Kind of a long story. Um, we're talking about DiZ, only his real name's Ansem. And the guy who called himself Ansem's me."

Bruixe blinked twice, confused. "Clear as mud," she grumbled. "Tell me later."

"Hey, where are the goons?" Riku wondered aloud.

"Donald and Goofy went to Radiant Garden to check up on Leon and the gang," Mickey told them. "You might run into them if you go there. You know where to find the computer?"

"Down in Ansem's lab?" Riku asked.

"That's the one," the king confirmed. "If you find Leon, he'll help you get access to it."

Bruixe nodded. "Alright. If you know where we're going, then let's go already. Thanks for all your help, Your Majesty."

"That's Mickey," the mouse corrected, smiling. He placed a small hand on Bruixe's elbow. "Bruixe… Rubie. I may not have known your father… but his mistakes aren't yours. You're you, not your father."

Bruixe could tell that the king meant what he said. "Thank you… Mickey."

Riku looked at both of them with a blank face, but shrugged. "See you around, Mickey."

"You too," the king replied. "I'd go with you, but I don't want to leave Minnie alone again. So be careful."

"We will," Riku promised, and he and Bruixe set out from the castle with new determination.


	14. Hey, You In the Cloak

Sorry it took so long. Here's Ch. 14. Once again, these characters belong to Square-Enix, Tetsuya Nomura, etc. 'Cept Bruixe.

I'll be updating more this weekend, so check back often. Chances are I'll put up at least three more chapters.

**L:** I left you a surprise. See how much I love you?

* * *

The two teenagers were only halfway to Radiant Garden when the sun finally slipped below the horizon.

Bruixe had been following Riku without really paying attention to where she was going; when he stopped abruptly, Bruixe ran head-on into him. "Sorry," she said automatically. "What's up?"

"It's getting dark," Riku said. "We should stop for the night."

"In the middle of the Between? What if those super-Heartless things show up again?"

"They'd show up whether we're moving or not," he pointed out. "We can't keep going in the dark anyway. I don't know the road to Radiant Garden well enough to do it at night."

Bruixe crossed her arms, shifting her weight to one foot in what Demyx had always called her 'Axel stance.' She didn't want to stop; they'd never find her heart at this rate. "So what? We just get attacked while we're off guard?"

"We can take shifts, doofus," he told her.

"Oh," she said, feeling slightly foolish. _Doofus?_ she wondered.

"We'll take two two-hour shifts each," decided Riku. "I'll set my watch. You want to go first, or should I?"

_Four hours of sleep? Here I thought this guy was nice. _"I will," answered Bruixe, who wasn't tired in the least. She shrugged off the cloak and held it out to Riku. "Here, a blanket."

"It was mine to begin with anyway," he reminded her, and took it, pulling it on before stretching out in the soft grass. He linked his hands behind his head, carefree, and was asleep within minutes.

Bruixe watched his even breathing and peaceful expression, goosebumps prickling over her now-bare shoulders as the cool wind surrounded her. She pulled her bracers higher over her arms as her mind waged an internal war.

_He called me his girlfriend._

He said it himself; you're just his friend.

_But __girlfriend_

Come on, you've known the guy for three days.

_Yeah, but he followed me here._

To give you Kairi's medicine.

_If that were the only reason, he'd've left already._

Maybe he's just being nice.

_To a girl he's only known for three days?_

Maybe.

Two hours seemed an eternity for Bruixe to be alone with her thoughts, but finally the alarm on Riku's watch beeped. She shook him gently awake, and he stretched lazily before handing over the cloak.

It smelled like palm trees and sea salt after Riku had slept in it. Bruixe pulled it closer and curled up inside it, inhaling deeply. For a moment, she could almost imagine she was back on the islands…

And the sun was shining through her eyelids, staining her sight red. She flung a black-sleeved arm over her face, trying to block it out. Next to her, Riku muttered something unintelligible and rolled over, the side of his face pressing into Bruixe's stomach.

_What the hell?!_

Bruixe jerked awake, blinking in the morning sun. She looked to her left; Riku had fallen asleep using her abdomen as a pillow, the back of one hand resting on her thigh.

"Ah!" Bruixe yelled and shoved him off, rolling away abruptly, feeling slightly violated. Riku's head hit the ground hard, and he woke with a dazed, "Huh? What happened?"

"You fell asleep on watch, that's what," Bruixe said shakily.

"Oh, man," Riku said, sitting up and rubbing his face. "What time is it?"

"Like eight in the morning," she told him. "Come on, get up, let's go."

She wondered if he realized what he'd been sleeping on. _Probably not._

They made it to Radiant Garden without further mishaps, though Riku kept complaining that his head hurt. _Sleep on someone else next time,_ Bruixe wanted to say, but thought it best not to go there.

"We're looking for a guy named Leon," Riku told her when they reached the city. "He'll get us in to Ansem's lab."

"Where is he?"

"I… don't know," Riku admitted. "He's Sora's friend. I don't really know him."

"While we're looking, you can explain the whole Ansem-DiZ thing," Bruixe suggested.

And so Riku told her his own story, the part he'd left out when explaining things on the island. He told her how he'd always envied Sora; how he had met the witch Maleficent and believed her lies about Sora replacing him and Kairi; how he was possessed by Ansem, who was not really Ansem but the Heartless of Xehanort, pretending to be his former master.

"You were used by the darkness?" Bruixe asked quietly.

"Yeah," he said. "I wanted to be strong. And I was… but it was never enough. I figured if I used the power of darkness and still got beat by Sora, it wasn't worth it."

He explained his and the King's journey through Castle Oblivion and how he'd conquered the darkness in his own heart, becoming able to use it instead of it using him; how he'd watched over Sora with Naminé and the man who'd called himself DiZ for almost a year; how he'd tried to defeat Roxas and failed until he became Xehanort himself; and how he'd recovered his own body with Sora's help.

"It turned out that the guy I'd always called DiZ was really Ansem the Wise," he said. "He had this machine that… well, I'm not sure what it was supposed to do, but it ended up destroying Kingdom Hearts, so Xemnas couldn't use it," he explained. "It exploded, and in the blast Ansem was killed, and I got my look back."

"Did your friends ever… I don't know… mistrust you, for using the darkness?" Bruixe wanted to know.

"Not really," replied Riku. "At first, I wanted to get rid of the darkness completely. But then I realized it was never going to go away, not really. And I figured, hey, what if I can use it? It wasn't Ansem's – I mean, Xehanort's darkness – not anymore. It was mine."

Bruixe nodded slowly.

"What's up?" he asked, seeing the sorrowful expression on her face.

"Nothing," she said. "It's just… well, I've seen my share of the darkness, too… but I never thought of it like that. Your darkness… and no one else's."

No matter how Riku pressed, though, Bruixe wouldn't elaborate. _He doesn't need to know_, she thought.

"Hey, you in the cloak!" called a voice from behind them. Bruixe turned to see a teenaged girl with cropped black hair and brown eyes run up to them. "Are you guys new here? I don't think I've seen you around."

From the tone of her voice, Bruixe could tell she was wary of strangers. "Yeah," she said. "Actually, we're looking for someone. Name's Leon?"

"Why do you wanna see Leon?" the girl asked suspiciously. "Who are you, anyway?"

Riku stepped in. "I'm Riku, and she's Bruixe. We're friends of Sora's."

The girl's eyes widened, and she clapped once. "Well, why didn't you say so?" she said cheerfully. "Any friend of Sora's is a friend of mine. I'm the great ninja Yuffie."

Bruixe raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

"I'll take you to see Squall," Yuffie said. "I think he's in the lab. Come on."


	15. Technology

As promised, one more. I don't own any of the characters except Bruixe. You know the drill.

Um, this is another awkward 'filler' chapter. Sorry. Promise I'll update soon. R&R, I don't care if you don't like it. I just wanna know. ...God, I'm tired. yawns

* * *

Yuffie took the two warriors to a building in the borough. Clearly the place had seen better days. "Radiant Garden's been through a lot," Yuffie told them. "The city was decimated when Maleficent took over, and the castle was destroyed when your buddy Sora took her out. There's a Restoration Committee set up to fix the place… but we've been focusing mainly on the residential and market districts. Haven't gotten to the lab or the castle yet."

She led them through a maze-like series of corridors to a disheveled study, with writing on the walls and books and documents scattered everywhere. "You've got some visitors, Squall," Yuffie said.

"That's Leon," replied the man sitting at the desk.

"Riku and Bruixe. They're Sora's friends," Yuffie went on, ignoring his comment.

Squall Leonheart was a tall man, with dark brown hair and eyes. He stood and greeted Riku and Bruixe with handshakes, then crossed his arms. A dark scar ran from above one eyebrow across his face. "So you're Riku," he said in his deep, slow voice.

"That's me," Riku replied cockily.

"It's nice to finally meet you," Leon went on. "I've heard a lot about you, from Sora and the King."

"Likewise," Riku said.

"What can I do for you?"

Riku hooked a thumb over his shoulder at Bruixe. "Hey, ask her. I'm just the escort."

Bruixe rolled her eyes. "We're looking for the computer of Ansem the Wise," she explained. "It's nothing big, just kind of a personal mission. We think his computer has the information we need. It would be great if you could show us where it is. That is, if it's okay with you."

"Done," Leon said.

"Done?" Bruixe repeated. "Well, that was easy."

"That's what happens when you drop a big name like Sora's," Riku muttered so only Bruixe could hear.

"The computer's in here," Leon told them, leading them through a paneled door in the wall. A cavernous room housed a massive computer interface that had more buttons than Bruixe had ever seen in her life, much less in one place. A portal-like mechanism faced the computer; its red door was closed.

Bruixe blanched. She had no idea what to do with a supercomputer like this one. "Um, Riku? I hope you know what you're doing," she said uncertainly. "Technology hates me."

"Technology doesn't hate anyone," Riku replied, grinning. "Just likes to play tricks on 'em, is all. Do I need a password?" he asked Leon.

"Yeah," Leon said. "It's the names of the seven princesses. You know, Kairi, Jasmine, all them. We'd've changed it to a shorter one, but we can't figure out how. Well, you two do what you need to do. If you need help, just ask."

"Thanks," Bruixe told him as he left the computer room.

Riku crossed to the computer station and entered the password. A very human-sounding voice emanated from the computer. "Hello, User," it said. "How may I be of service?"

"A talking computer," Riku murmured. "Well, that's something I haven't seen."

"Correction," said the computer. "I am the MCP, the Master Control Program. You may call me Tron."

Suddenly recognition crossed Riku's face. "Sora told me about you," he said. "Tron, can you help us? We need to find any information Ansem might have stored on retrieving hearts."

"Of course," Tron replied. The screen flickered, and a blue-and-gray face appeared – Tron's physical appearance. "I'll scan his journal entries."

He was silent for a few minutes, and Bruixe began tapping her foot impatiently. "Chill," Riku told her. "Think about how much information must be stored in here; and Tron has to search all of it."

Bruixe scowled. "Technology," she muttered under her breath.

"I seem to be having difficulties," Tron said finally.

Riku blinked. "What do you mean?"

"The data you asked for was stored on this computer, but for some reason it's been corrupted," the MCP explained.

"You mean we need a password?" Bruixe asked, confused.

Tron shook his animated head. "It means the data has been damaged. It's inaccessible. I suspect it may have been corrupted during the installation of my program as MCP. The previous MCP was infected with a virus and lost control; the User Sora helped me to override it and install a new program, but some files were lost. The data you want is unreadable. Unless you have a backup drive, the information is gone forever."

Bruixe slumped against the wall, exasperated. Her head throbbed, and she slid to the floor, a little dizzy. "So you're telling me there's no way to figure this out."

"Not true," Riku said thoughtfully. "Ansem had one other computer, in the mansion at Twilight Town. He only used it as a sort of satellite operation, while we couldn't access this one. It probably only contains data from the year we spent in Twilight Town… but there's a possibility he used it as a backup for his other data. A genius like him wouldn't have let data be destroyed by some fluke. He'd have a back door set up."

"So, we go find this other computer?" Bruixe asked. She wanted to be done. She just wanted to be able to find her heart without all this running around between worlds. _You knew what you were getting into,_ she told herself sternly. _Don't back out now._

"Yeah," Riku answered. "I know, I know. All this way for nothing. But hey, we're one step closer, right?"

"I guess," she agreed, pushing herself up off the floor. "Thanks anyway, Tron."

"My pleasure," the program replied. "And I hope you find the data you were searching for."

"Find what you needed?" Leon asked as they left the computer room.

Bruixe was too tired to reply. "Not exactly," Riku said. "But we're not giving up yet. We'll go to Twilight Town next. Thanks for the help, Leon."

"Anytime," the warrior replied. "Don't be strangers."


	16. Glad You're Here

A big chapter this time! I've had this one in my head for days, but I couldn't get to it yet… lol. This is different for me. Usually I write in chunks, and piece it together later. Can't do that on this site. Last chapter was a 'piecing together' moment. I hate those. Why can't I write the exciting stuff? growls

Sorry, I'm rambling. On with the story. These characters (except Bruixe) are the property of Square-Enix and Tetsuya Nomura.

**L:** More surprises. You paying attention?

Oh, yeah. I really hate it when people do this, but there's going to be a minor change in POV near the end of this chapter. Nothing big, still third-person limited; it's just that it'll switch to Riku's 'limited' perspective instead of Bruixe's. You'll see why. I'll switch it back, no worries. I just couldn't figure out how else to write it.

* * *

By this time Bruixe was thoroughly fed up with the endless grasses of the Between. "I want mountains," she grumbled irritably. "Rivers. Beach. Desert. Anything. I don't care," she ranted. "Goddamn grass. Goddamn plains."

It was clear from Riku's face that he couldn't decide whether to chuckle or sympathize. "You must not come from a flatland world," he observed.

Bruixe shook her head. "The Eternal Kingdom," she sighed reminiscently. "It's this empire-city set into the McClain Mountains." Then she realized what she'd said, and shut up.

"You know, I've never heard you talk about your home," Riku pointed out.

"It's not my home," Bruixe told him. "Hasn't been for almost two years, now. I grew up there, yeah… but it's not my home. I don't really have a home. Don't need one."

Riku nodded knowingly. "You don't ever miss it?"

"No," Bruixe said.

She didn't want to talk about that place. It held nothing but hate for her.

They walked on in silence for a while, the only sound the muffled stomp of Bruixe's boots and Riku's tennishoes, and the gentle _swish_ of Riku's cloak around her ankles. She pulled at the neck; it seemed like the temperature was going up.

"Why don't you ever talk about your past?" Riku wanted to know. "I've told you my story. Even if you've done things you're not proud of, I get it –"

"Who said anything about that?" Bruixe demanded shortly. Her head pounded like it had in Radiant Garden. It really was hot out here. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Why not?" Riku pressed. "I won't judge you. You know that. I'm your friend."

The world seemed to spin. _Why is he bringing this up now?_ she wondered absently. "I said I don't –" Her legs gave way. _What the hell is wrong with me?_ "I, I…"

"Bruixe?" Riku was on his knees next to her in an instant, the irritated look on his face replaced with concern. "Are you okay?"

"Too many goddamn questions," she rasped, but she didn't mean it; her body felt like it was on fire. The world was spinning; stars danced in front of her eyes. "What…"

"You're sweating," Riku said, pressing the back of one hand against her forehead. His hand felt like ice. "Holy shit," he cursed, and Bruixe dimly registered that she'd never heard him swear before.

She closed her eyes. "I don't…"

* * *

Bruixe didn't finish her sentence, only collapsed into Riku's arms. _What in the world just happened?_ he thought desperately. Her face was blotchy and red; her skin felt like it could burst into flame any moment, and her whole body trembled. He tore at the clasps of the cloak, yanking it off her overheated body; as he pulled it off her, he noticed a bright red streak on one shoulder.

_Oh God…_

The wound Kairi had been checking on was inflamed and puckered; the center was stark white, and red runners sprouted from it in all directions. Riku dove for Bruixe's pack; inside, the little white bottle of disinfectant potion Kairi had sent with him lay in the bottom, forgotten. How long had it been since Bruixe had cleaned it out? Hours? Days? Since they left the island? Riku realized he'd forgotten Kairi's instructions – "She'll have to clean it out at least once a day, and make sure it's bandaged up at all times," the healer had said. Why hadn't he told her? _Is it my fault she's like this?_

Riku undid the back of Bruixe's halter, feeling awkward; he laid her facedown on the ground, using the cloak as a makeshift pallet. Wadding up a handful of bandage to use as a sponge, he poured nearly half of Kairi's potion over it and gently cleaned along the entire length of the wound. _Now what?_

Bruixe let out a feverish moan, and Riku ran his hands over his face. _Times like this you need Kairi here,_ he thought, then shook his head. Kairi wasn't here, and there was no point wishing she was.

An idea occurred to him, and he held out his hand flat in the air, summoning a globe of darkness in his palm. Riku focused for a moment, and the darkness flowed into the tips of his fingers, making them glow bluish-black.

_I hope this works,_ he thought desperately, and traced the jagged sides of Bruixe's wound with his dark-filled fingers. Bruixe shuddered violently, but then lay still. As Riku watched, the red tendrils of infection seemed to shrink back a little, and Bruixe's breathing became even.

Riku couldn't suppress a sigh of relief as he released the darkness in his hand. _Never thought of the darkness as a surgery tool._

He bandaged the wound and reclosed the potion bottle before refastening the back of Bruixe's halter; then he gently turned her over and wrapped his cloak around her. Bruixe's eyelids fluttered, but she didn't wake up.

Riku ran one hand through his hair, letting the other rest on Bruixe's arm. He was all too aware of how close he'd come to losing her, and he wasn't about to let it happen again. "Just sleep now," he told her, though he knew she couldn't hear him. "You're alright. I'm right here."

* * *

Bruixe opened her eyes to a starry sky; confused, she put a hand to her face. _What happened? One minute I was talking to Riku, and then…_

She remembered being dizzy, and falling to the ground; then everything was a blur. Her shoulder and back throbbed. Groggy, she sat up.

"You're awake," said Riku, and Bruixe realized that he was sitting right next to her.

"Obviously," Bruixe replied hoarsely. "What happened?"

"Your back was infected," he told her. "You passed out… I didn't know what to do. Kairi's potion wasn't enough…"

"Riku?" Bruixe noticed that his face was haggard, as if he hadn't slept; he smiled feebly at her.

"I had to use the darkness, to save you," he said softly. "I… it killed whatever infection was in there, and then you were okay."

"You really were worried about me, weren't you?" she asked.

Riku nodded weakly. "I thought… I thought I was going to lose you," he admitted.

Bruixe flung her arms around his neck, surprising herself even more than Riku. "Thank you," she murmured into his shoulder.

Riku didn't answer, only brought his arms up around her, returning the embrace.

"That's twice now you've saved my life," she went on. "Riku… I'm glad you came. Not just because you saved me… I'm glad you're here."


	17. Nothing At All

Hey, here's chapter 17. Sorry it took so long, I've been grounded. Ugh.

Read the other disclaimers. I'm sick of 'em.

* * *

Later that night, it was Riku's turn to be on watch, but Bruixe couldn't sleep. Her mind swarmed with thoughts of their conversation before she had collapsed.

"_Why don't you ever talk about your past? I've told you my story. Even if you've done things you're not proud of, I get it –"_

"_Who said anything about that? I don't want to talk about it."_

"_Why not? I won't judge you. You know that. I'm your friend."_

Soon she gave up on sleep altogether and went to sit next to Riku. "Can't sleep?" he asked.

Bruixe shook her head. "Hey, Riku," she began tentatively.

"What's up?"

"I want… I want to tell you why I gave up my heart," she said.

Riku turned to look at her, blue-green eyes filled with understanding. "I'm listening."

Bruixe cleared her throat. "Um… do you know the legend of the Great Keybearers?"

"Not really," he admitted.

"Okay," she sighed, glad of a place to start. "Um… up until about eleven years ago, there were hundreds of Keyblade masters.

"They were the keepers of peace throughout the worlds. Governed under the Council of Nine, they operated from the Eternal Kingdom, where I was born. Each master would train new apprentices and teach them the ways of the Keyblade. It was a tradition that had existed for hundreds of years.

"My father… was one such master. His name was Xehanort. No the Xehanort you know, the original Xehanort, for which Ansem's apprentice was named. They called him 'Xehanort the Cruel.'

"He was… one of the strongest Keybearers the worlds had ever seen. He'd always told me that one day, I would have to carry on his 'legacy'. Back then, my name was Rubie. He intended to make me his sole apprentice. But… he never got that far.

"Xehanort was obsessed with power. When I was six, he believed he had found a way to siphon power from the hearts of those around him. He made a plea to the Council of Nine, to be allowed to use the citizens of the worlds – the non-Keybearers – to strengthen those who were Keybearers." Bruixe's voice was angry, filled with hate. Her silver eyes glinted as if with fire. "He was convinced that Keybearers were a separate order – that they were much more important than citizens of the worlds. He thought that it was okay to use them, even to the point of death, to strengthen Keybearers.

"Needless to say, the Council turned him down flat. Maybe if they'd punished him, all this would never have happened. But they couldn't – he was one of the best. So they just pretended nothing happened.

"You have to understand, at this time the Heartless were growing stronger; they were attacking in waves much more powerful than the worlds had ever seen. More Keybearers were killed every day trying to staunch the darkness. Xehanort was trying to find a way to save them… I'm not defending him," she added quickly. "But when he was turned down, he was furious.

"He didn't understand; he thought the Council had betrayed him. He took it to mean that they didn't care if Keybearers were killed.

"Xehanort left the Eternal Kingdom, and… I think the darkness found him. For a year, he amassed followers; he called them Seekers. They wanted power… The Council didn't want to deal with them, didn't think they were a threat. But there was another master, who had been Xehanort's rival since they were children. Danthus. But the years had aged him terribly, and he was not strong enough to bring Xehanort down. So he sent his three apprentices – Terra, Ven, and Aqua – after Xehanort. And he convinced some of the other masters to go too.

"What ensued was the bloodiest conflict the worlds had ever seen. The Union Worlds – that is, the Eternal Kingdom, Disney Castle, Twilight Town, and Radiant Garden – were filled with Seekers fighting Keybearers.

"Xehanort himself was in the Eternal Kingdom, trying to defeat the Council's army, and he was succeeding: he bore a power that the Council had never seen, far greater than that which he had possessed before. It was strength he had gained from draining the hearts of others. I saw him once, before the Great Keybearers got to him. He was… not the same man he had been. I was afraid… I ran as far away as I could.

"Eventually the tide turned; Xehanort's followers broke ranks and fled, unable to defend against the more skillful Keybearers. But Xehanort remained. Terra, Ven, and Aqua faced him alone; they were the ones we called the 'Great Keybearers.' Terra, the Great Liberator, is the one who finally killed my father. But… during the battle, Ven was killed.

"After Xehanort died, I was… sort of adopted, by the Council. I lived with Councilors Isalena and Garrison for a long time, almost six years. But… I hated it. The Council never trusted me. 'Shadow-child' they called me, 'demon-spawn,' even though I had no love for my father. I never supported anything he did – I was just a kid! But they never saw me, only my father.

"By the time I was thirteen, I'd had enough. I left the Temple, ran away, to put it bluntly. I lived on the streets of Kingdom City for a long time – two years, scrounging for food, running from soldiers, defending my little alleyway from other street rats. 'Course, that only reinforced what people thought of me.

"I was determined to prove them wrong, but there was always this little seed of anger. I hated them, all of them. All the people who had ever looked down on me… and you can guess what happened.

"The darkness came to me when I was fifteen. At first it scared the shit out of me – after all, I'd seen what it had done to my father. But I was naïve enough to think that I would be different. I told myself I'd do something great, something so important that they'd have to accept me.

"I got my chance about a month later. A huge fire broke out in the warehouses just south of where I'd been sleeping. They'd been abandoned for years, and so the Council was just going to let them burn themselves out. But… people had been living there, street kids like me, and they were still inside.

"There were soldiers all around the blaze, and Councilors Demetre and Velkin were in charge of keeping it under control. I begged them to let me in; told them there were people inside. But Demetre… she as much as told me 'let them die'. She didn't care about them, they were like dirt under her feet.

"I… I got angry. There was a struggle… I broke past the guards, and everything's a blur past that. I remember getting the people out, but… the darkness was inside me, and I couldn't control it… and when I came out, Demetre was dead."

Bruixe stared across the grassy fields and blinked furiously to contain the hot tears in her eyes. _Stop it, _she told herself. _You're a Nobody. You don't feel. Stop it…_

"I didn't mean to kill her," she cried in a rush. "I never meant – if I'd known – but I lost control…"

Then Riku's arms were around her, and Bruixe sobbed gently into his shoulder, hating herself for crying, mourning for the woman she'd killed. Riku didn't say a word, just stroked her hair gently, putting as much comfort into the hug as he could. Eventually Bruixe got herself under control.

"Velkin told everyone it was my fault," she continued hoarsely. "Anyone who didn't already hate me was suddenly out for my blood. I was arrested – and I didn't even resist, I was in such a state of shock. What could I say? Velkin made every case against me. I had used the darkness – I killed her in cold blood – she wasn't armed, she didn't even know how to fight – I valued the lives of street rats over those who had taken me in – but even if he hadn't stood against me… I killed a Councilor. There was nothing worse I could have done short of destroying the whole city.

"I was thrown into the lowest dungeons there were, and Velkin… he was put in charge of my… my torture. For a year, I… he…" Her voice cracked. "Soon all I had left was the bad things. Sorrow, self-pity, anger, hate… fear… I thought anything could be better than the pain… I called out to the darkness, gave myself up to it. I thought I would die… I wanted to die. But I didn't know what would happen… I became a Nobody."

Bruixe fell silent; there was nothing more to tell.

After a long time, Riku spoke, one arms still around her shoulders. "Did you regret it? Becoming a Nobody?"

"Not at first," she admitted. "But soon I realized… it wasn't worth it. I… I'd rather feel pain, than nothing at all."

"You didn't have to tell me," he said.

"I wanted to," she told him, meeting his gaze, suddenly aware of how close they were. "I thought… if there was anyone to tell, it would be you… you'd understand."

"I do," he said quietly.

They sat in silence for hours, needing to say nothing more, until the sun peeked above the horizon, and the day was born again.


	18. Answers

And... one more. Have fun. No longer grounded, as you can probably tell.

Bruixe gets a little bitchy in this chapter. Think you can handle it?

* * *

Bruixe stretched carefully in the seemingly perpetual sunset of Twilight Town; her wounded shoulder still ached, but she could tell it was no longer infected. _Whatever Riku did, it worked,_ she thought.

He hadn't mentioned their conversation of the night before, not once through the four-hour trek to the Union World. Bruixe was grateful, but a little anxious as to what his thoughts were. It had never bothered her before – not knowing what someone was thinking – but now she'd trade her Keyblade for a peek into Riku's head.

Riku was leaning against the side of a building, arms folded. "I'd rather avoid the locals if we can help it," he told her. "Especially since we don't need a tour guide this time. They always want to know about Sora, and I'm sick of talking about him." He pulled a face of mock disgust.

"Fine with me," Bruixe agreed. "I'm not so much a people person. Lead the way, O divine master."

"That's Mister Divine Master to you, wench," he joked.

They came to a gap in the city wall and passed through a brief copse of trees before coming to a huge, gated mansion with a wide grass lawn. "C'mon," Riku said. He summoned Soul Eater to open the gate, and they continued past the crumbling pillars of the entryway.

Riku stopped abruptly in the mansion doorway, and Bruixe had to stand on her tiptoes to see over his shoulder.

Three Soldier Heartless – _no, not Heartless, _Bruixe thought, _those things from before_ – were waiting for them in the foyer. Bruixe summoned her Keyblade automatically, but Riku held out an arm to stop her. "You're hurt," he said. "Let me handle this. Watch and learn, my young apprentice."

"I'm older than you," Bruixe retorted, but Riku was already moving. He charged, whipping Soul Eater once, twice, three times – the first not-Heartless screamed, and was gone.

But he'd overlooked the other two in his rush to get the upper hand, and they hit him at the same time, sending him sprawling on his back. "Riku!" Bruixe yelled, and knew it was time to intervene; whispering "Vengeance!" she flung out her hand at the nearest Soldier. A blast of pure energy – twilight, her own special magic – shot from her arm like fire. The thing howled in agony, bursting into a thousand fragments that dissipated into the air.

Riku took out the last one easily, launching himself off the ground into a two-footed kick. He pinned the Soldier to the ground, stabbing it through the head. Bruixe clapped her hands to her ears in a futile attempt to block out the gut-wrenching sound.

"What the hell was that?" Riku demanded as he pushed himself off the ground.

"What was what?" Bruixe asked innocently.

"You know what," he snapped. "That blast thing."

She crossed her arms. "That was twilight," she replied. "My magic. Did you think I was some helpless little girl? I'm the Twilight Avenger, Mr. Hero. I trained with the best of the best."

"I told you not to get involved."

"I don't take orders from you," she informed him crossly.

"But you're hurt –"

Riku was interrupted by a sound slap across the face. He stared at her in shock, then finally managed, "What was that for?"

"For coddling me," Bruixe said smugly, and stalked off up the stairs. "Where's this computer?" she called over one shoulder.

He scratched his head, and brushed past her to lead her down the hall to a hidden room; the floor in the library gave way to a staircase leading down into the computer room.

"Been awhile since I've been here," Riku commented, and sat at the computer. "This is weird," he muttered to himself. "He used to sit here…"

"Ansem?" Bruixe guessed.

Riku nodded, then raised his hands to the console. "I must have watched him use this thing a thousand times… this mansion was all I saw for almost a year." He typed as he talked, running searches through the computer database. "Your Organization was after us, so we had to lay low."

"A year?" Bruixe whistled softly. "I'd go insane."

"It wasn't that bad," he told her, shrugging. "We were busy creating the virtual Twilight Town – we kept having to fight off Nobodies – so there was always something to do."

"You were the one who captured Roxas."

It wasn't a question, and Riku knew it. "Yeah," he said. "DiZ told me it'd help Sora get his memories back faster. I didn't hesitate. I… I'm sorry. You were his friend, right?"

Bruixe nodded. "You don't have to apologize. Roxas… he wanted to meet Sora, more than anything. Even if he didn't remember once you'd caught him… I think it's what he would've wanted. It's what all of us wanted – just to be whole. He was the lucky one. He survived."

They were silent for a while, and Bruixe watched Riku type with fascination. _Who would've thought such rough warrior's hands could handle something as delicate as a computer interface?_

"Got something," he said at last, and Bruixe felt a thrill of excitement. "It's a record of his journals. Here, read it yourself."

He moved to let her see the screen, and she began to read.


	19. Ansem's Journal 1

We're back in business.

Sorry it's so late coming, guys. I've been on lockdown. Ready for some answers? You're gonna get them. This chapter doesn't have Bruixe and Riku in it: it's just Ansem's journal, straight-up, as if Bruixe were reading it right off the computer screen. Kind of short, but bear with me.

And remember in KH1, after you left Hollow Bastion the first time, all the Heartless in the worlds got insanely strong? Keep that in mind. It'll come in handy.

Without further ado: enjoy.

* * *

The worlds are under threat.

A new enemy has appeared on the brink of existence. A new breed of being, which maintains the cleverness of a Nobody while wielding the pure strength of the Heartless. A monstrosity that should never existed, save for the twisted dreams of one man.

Xehanort the Cruel.

The very warrior for whom my traitorous apprentice was named. 

He created these 'Chasers' as his army. As the saying goes, "hearts are power." The Chasers seek hearts, the strongest hearts, upon which Xehanort would feed, drawing his power. They sense the strength of a heart, much like the Heartless; but the Chasers do not destroy their prey. They drag their victims into the realm of nothingness, until Xehanort can feed upon them.

The army was to have been destroyed with Xehanort's demise, but it seems a few have survived. Yet they haven't hunted until now. Why?

With the endeavors of the newest Keyblade bearer, the first in ten years – Sora, who was entrusted with Terra's Kingdom Key – events have occurred that awakened the Chasers at long last.

It is difficult to judge, because the Chasers appear as normal Heartless, only much stronger. However…

The first appearance of Chasers – it came with the death of the witch Maleficent and the awakening of my apprentice's Heartless, who called himself Ansem. Why? What strong hearts were born at that time? Only a massively powerful heart could have alerted the Chasers.

It is my belief that strong hearts are not born, but regained.

A heart reclaimed – in any way – has immeasurable power, much more than that of even the strongest conventionally-born heart. At the time Maleficent was killed, two hearts were reclaimed. 

Kairi, the seventh princess of purest heart. When she fell into darkness, her heart chose Sora as a vessel, to protect it. Sora discovered this. He took Terra's secondary blade, the Master Heart, which Riku had recovered, and released Kairi's heart.

I believe it is this action that awakened the Chasers. In a single blow, Kairi's heart was regained, and Sora's was lost. Shortly after, however, Sora too was restored.

And at this time, Chasers appeared across the worlds. 

One would think they would fade with the closure of the Dark Keyhole. But my sources say otherwise. There is another heart whose power draws them even now. Even as Sora sleeps, as Kairi lives protected in a world of light, a heart still draws them.

He has been called the power behind Sora – the wielder of light and darkness, Riku.

Riku is an enigma to me. He walks the path of twilight, affected not by the deepest darkness nor the brightest light. He did not lose his heart, only control of his heart. And when he took back his heart – when he rooted out the shadow of Xehanort's Heartless inside him – he gained a strength I have never seen.

The Chasers hunger for these three hearts. The danger is imminent; Xehanort the Cruel no longer exists. Any heart captured by the Chasers would dwell in the realm of nothingness for eternity. A fate worse than death.

The Chasers must be eradicated. They pose a threat far worse than anything the worlds have ever seen.

The only advantage I can see is that the Chasers are not eternal. They were created by Xehanort the Cruel. With his fall, the knowledge and ability to create them was lost. It is my estimation that only a hundred, maybe two hundred, Chasers remain – a far more manageable number than the great multitudes of Heartless and Nobodies that wander the worlds.

A great war is coming: the Chaser War. Soon the Chasers will be too great a problem to deal with. Soon they must be destroyed.

I do not know when it will happen, only that it must.


	20. Ansem's Journal 2

One more for the record books. I'm determined to catch you guys up. Are you ready? Here we go.

* * *

Keyblades.

What are they? How were they created? No one knows exactly. The laws of nature and existence do not apply to Keyblades. They traverse space instantly, destroy Heartless and Nobodies, and can even manipulate the workings of the heart.

So many Keyblades were lost in the war; Xehanort the Cruel made sure of that. Only eight survived Xehanort's destruction of the Master's Expanse, where the Keyblades are kept.

But judging from these eight, I have discovered that each Keyblade has its own unique power. Often I have wondered if Keyblades have spirits; each is different, and each chooses its wielder. How does a Keyblade know who its destined wielder is? It is a mystery to me. But I have tracked these Keyblades across the years – or at least, I have attempted to do so.

My dear friend King Mickey tells me that the Dream Breaker – once wielded by Ven, the Valiant Blade – was destroyed ten years ago, when Ven was killed by Xehanort. The King believes it possessed the power to control hearts completely – full dominion over the heart the Dream Breaker's wielder chooses to control.

Terra, the Great Liberator, wielded two Keyblades – the Kingdom Key and Soul Eater, which live on with Sora and Riku. Terra hid these blades on Destiny Islands, where the heroes would find them when the time came. The Kingdom Key changes appearance and strength with attached keychains; Soul Eater gains immeasurable strength when in contact with the darkness, as Riku discovered.

Another dual-wielder was Danthus, the master of Terra, Ven, and Aqua. He hid his Keyblades within Kingdom Hearts, which Xehanort could not enter, in order to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. King Mickey found one: Reverse Alignment, which allows even a non-dark-wielder passage through the dark realm. The other, Changeling, is currently wielded by Roxas, which leads me to believe that Sora will be the true bearer once he awakens from his slumber.

The remaining three Keyblades have been lost, but through intense research, I have discovered their pasts. Xehanort owned two – Fallen Angel, which he used to create and control the Chasers, and Master Heart. I believe this is the Keyblade that my apprentice, through Riku, once wielded, which contains the power to unlock hearts. However, Riku cannot bear the Master Heart anymore, since my apprentice's shadow has been eradicated from Riku's heart, and the Keyblade has been lost.

But perhaps the most fascinating of the Keyblades to me is that of Aqua, the Fair Swordmaiden. Ephemeral Light – a fitting name indeed, for as far as I can tell no Keybearer has kept it for longer than four months. Ephemeral Light has the power to seek out and retrieve lost hearts. I've no doubt that this is why Xehanort the Cruel sought so desperately after it. This Keyblade would also have devastating effect were it to fall into the Organization's ands. But Aqua hid it well – too well, perhaps. It has not been seen for nearly ten years.

The fate of these lost Keyblades interests me greatly, but there is nothing I can do. I must oversee Naminé's work and continue to thwart the Organization until Sora awakens. The quest for Keyblades will rest with someone else, and I can only hope that that someone's intentions are good.

* * *

"My Keyblade… created the Chasers?" Bruixe whispered, shocked.

Riku frowned. "What?"

"It was my father's," she told him. "Fallen Angel. Your Ansem said Xehanort used it to create and control the Chasers."

"But you won't," Riku pointed out. "Problem solved. I'm more interested in Aqua's key. 'The power to seek out and retrieve lost hearts,' DiZ said. You know what that means, right? All we gotta do is find that Keyblade – find Aqua. She's one of your 'Great Keybearers,' right? So we need to head to the Eternal Kingdom." Excitement had taken over his expression.

"No," Bruixe said flatly.

"What do you mean, 'no'?" Riku demanded. "This is it."

"Aqua… Aqua's dead," she explained quietly. "She was destroyed by the remnants of Xehanort's army… by the Seekers."

Riku's grin faded. "Oh," he said. "Well… what happens to a Keyblade if its master dies?"

"I don't know," Bruixe admitted. "Traditionally, it would return to the Master's Expanse to await a new bearer. But my father destroyed the Expanse and all the Keyblades in it during the war. I can only guess that Aqua managed to hide it before she was killed."

"Then we should still go to the Eternal Kingdom, just to check," he decided.

"No," Bruixe repeated firmly. 

"Why not? It's not like anyone will recognize you," he pointed out. "You're Bruixe now, not Rubie."

_Some of them will,_ she thought darkly, but she knew Riku was right – they had to go. "We'll go," she agreed grudgingly, "but I have one condition. I'm not going into Kingdom City – I can't - so you'll be on your own. Is that okay?"

Riku frowned, but nodded. "Fine. If you're going to be a coward…"

Bruixe ignored this. "Now listen carefully, because there's really only one way to do this…"


	21. Homecoming

Hey, I'm on a roll! 

This chapter's gone through about four revisions because I couldn't figure out how to write it. Grr! Here's the final draft. It's reeeeally long. Sorry.

Hey, Lauren. I've got something else for you, if you can find it. This one's harder.

* * *

"Whoa," Riku said in awe.

"This is the Master's Expanse," Bruixe told him. "Or at least, it used to be."

The entrance to the Eternal Kingdom was a vast plain that stretched as far as the eye could see. The barren, dusty ground glittered like an enormous multi-faceted diamond, giving the area an ethereal glow.

"Why does it sparkle?" Riku wanted to know.

"Imagine a hundred million Keyblades," explained Bruixe. "All stuck in the ground, and spread out in every direction as far as you can see. Now imagine someone destroyed them all, shattered every last one, until they were nothing but dust."

Riku nodded sadly. "That's… terrible."

"Yeah," she agreed. "I wouldn't walk on it, either. Some of those shards get pretty sharp."

"There's no way to repair them?" he asked as Bruixe led him to a slightly raised boardwalk over the Expanse.

Bruixe shook her head. "Even if every shard was collected and sorted out – an impossible task in itself – even if we could do that, no one knows how the Keyblades were created, and so no one knows how they might be restored."

The walk ended at the base of a gigantic cliff. At the top loomed an intimidating goldstone fortress, complete with towers, crenellated walls, and portcullis. "We have to climb that?" Riku complained.

Bruixe laughed. "No, that's the Citadel of the Watch. If they noticed us coming, they'll probably send someone out."

"That's not Kingdom City?" he said dubiously. Bruixe only shook her head, still chuckling.

Sure enough, before long a voice called from the top of the cliff, "Hail, travelers!"

"Hail, Watchman!" Bruixe called back.

"What business have you in the Expanse?" came the shout.

"We travel to Kingdom City," she replied.

The voice was silent, then a horrible grating screech rang out from the cliff. A section of the rocky wall slid inward and sideways, revealing a tunnel cut into the base.

"That was easy," Riku commented as they entered.

"The Eternal Kingdom has nothing to fear from the outside – not anymore," Bruixe told him. "The Citadel is left over from the Keyblade Wars of old – and once Xehanort was destroyed, there was no need for security. The Watch hasn't been needed for eleven years, but the Council prefers to play on the safe side."

They came to a fork in the tunnel, with three branches – one lit by blue lanterns, the second green, the third red.

Bruixe stopped. "This is where I leave you," she said. She pointed down the green tunnel. "That leads to Kingdom City."

"Where do the others go?" Riku wanted to know.

"The blue goes to Nelura Lake, and the red leads to the Desert of Keul, where there's a path to the Citadel cut into the cliff. But you take the green tunnel. You'll come out the Earth Gate, in Southmarket District. From there go straight north, to the center of the city – the Temple of Heroes is the big white building with the nine towers. Can't miss it. Ask for Councilor Garrison, and don't trust any of the others – especially Velkin or Isalena."

"Earth Gate, Southmarket, Temple of Heroes, Councilor Garrison," he repeated. "Got it."

"When you're done, head to the Fire Gate, on the east side. I'll wait for you there," she finished.

"Got it," he said again.

"Be careful," Bruixe cautioned him.

Riku grinned cheekily. "No worries."

* * *

Bruixe loitered outside the Fire Gate, sketching patterns in the valley dirt with her Keyblade while she waited. She was still bothered by Ansem's writings on the Chasers.

_If I regain my heart, the Chasers will come after me, _she thought. _Ansem said they have to be 'eradicated'. So before I get my heart… wait a minute, why does it have to be me to destroy the Chasers?_

But she knew why.

_If I don't do something… if Riku and I don't do something, no one will. It's got to be us. …I wonder how many there are? We might need help._

Footsteps alerted her to the presence of another person. "Changeling?" a man's voice said incredulously.

Bruixe whirled at the sound of her childhood nickname. Only one person had ever called her that.

Terra hadn't changed much since she'd seen him last, two years ago; his brown eyes still carried deep sorrow, and his face was still prematurely lined. The only difference was the heavy greatsword slung across his back – he no longer had a Keyblade, Bruixe remembered.

"Terra," she whispered.

"The Watchman told me that there was someone sulking around her," he said, "but you were the last person I expected to see." He peered closer at her, frowning. "You've changed."

"You recognized me," Bruixe said. "How?"

Terra gave his crooked, sad smile. "You… smell the same," he answered. "You look different, and the smell is fainter, but it's there."

"Hm," Bruixe grunted noncommittally.

"What are you doing here, Changeling?" Terra wanted to know. "I thought… everyone thought you were dead. How did you escape Velkin's prison?"

"I'd… rather not go there, Liberator," she told him. "I… I've been through a lot."

"I can see that," he agreed.

Bruixe crossed her arms. "Actually, I'm waiting for someone in the city. He's running an errand for me. You probably know him. Name's Riku."

A look of shock passed across Terra's face. "No coincidence, I assume?"

"The same Riku you entrusted your Keyblade to," Bruixe answered. Then something occurred to her. "Terra… I know you don't like to talk about her, but… I need to know about Aqua."

Pain filled his eyes, and Bruixe immediately wished she hadn't asked. 

She knew that Terra had taken Aqua's death hard, because he felt responsible. Ven's death had changed Aqua, and she'd lost the will to live. Terra had found her body eight years later. Bruixe couldn't imagine the sorrow he must feel. He'd seen Aqua as a sister, whom he felt solely responsible to protect – but he hadn't been able to protect her forever.

"I'm sorry," Bruixe whispered.

"Don't be," Terra said heavily. "What… what do you need to know?"

"I was wondering… if you knew where she hid her Keyblade."

He gazed at Bruixe for a long time, then finally answered, "I don't know. Even the Council has not been able to find it."

Bruixe nodded. "Why the sword?" she asked, changing the subject. "I didn't think you'd need to fight anymore."

Terra's expression grew serious. "Xehanort's remnant army," he said. "The Chasers have been attacking with more force every day. The Watch is spread too thin; we can't hold them off much longer. The people are making preparations to evacuate the city."

Bruixe frowned. At that moment, Riku burst out of the Fire Gate at a full run, yelling, "I know where it is! I know where it is!"

He spotted Terra and skidded to a halt, plainly confused.

"This is the one?" Terra asked. Bruixe nodded wordlessly, and he looked over Riku with an appraising eye.

Riku looked at him oddly, but ignored this anomaly. "Garrison didn't know where Aqua hid her key, but he showed me what it looks like, and I've seen it, held it even, I gave it to Kairi so she could help us fight. I'm sure she's still got it, Bruixe."

Terra's eyebrows shot up. "Bruixe?" he murmured.

"It's a long story," Bruixe said quickly. "Um… Riku, this is Terra. He… he is the former wielder of your Keyblade, according to Ansem. And he's the one who destroyed Xehanort."

Riku's expression changed from that of excitement to one of awe. "No way," he said.

Terra nodded gravely. "Now that you're here… there's something I would like to talk to both of you about. Maybe your appearance here is more than just coincidence."


	22. To War

Hey, guys

Hey, guys. Sorry it's been so long, I've been busy.

Oh, and FYI, Riku talks about destroying an army of Nobodies – he's referring to after you beat the final boss in KH2, and he and Sora are surrounded. Sora says "We did it!" and Riku goes, "I wouldn't be too sure of that," and then there's a flash and suddenly they're all gone.

Now, enjoy.

* * *

Terra led Bruixe and Riku up a rocky stair cut into the cliff. Guards saluted as they entered the Citadel of the Watch, winding through countless hallways until they reached a formidable white door. Terra rapped three times on the stone, and it swung inward, admitting the three.

Inside was a conference room of sorts, the walls lined with shelves surrounding a long table in the center. A single man lounged in one chair, evidently waiting for someone.

"Danthus?" Bruixe whispered, surprised.

Terra cleared his throat. "Bruixe, Riku, I'd like to introduce you to Councilor Danthus, commander of the Watch, and my former master."

Danthus stood in greeting. He was taller than Bruixe remembered, grey eyes steely and formidable – _not altogether someone you'd want to get on the bad side of,_ she thought.

"This is the one?" Danthus asked, apparently alluding to some conversation he and Terra had earlier. Terra nodded brusquely. "Bruixe is accompanying him," he explained, and Bruixe felt a rush of gratitude towards the Liberator for not giving away her identity.

"Sit," Danthus ordered them, and they all did so. "This is more fortunate than I expected. When I asked Terra to bring me the new Keyblade masters, I did not expect him to come back in two hours."

Riku shrugged. "He didn't have to look far – we were already here."

"Fortunate," Danthus repeated. "Even if only one has arrived so far, I feel I must explain." Bruixe shrugged mentally, deciding not to point out that she was a Keyblade master, too. _I don't want to answer those kinds of questions,_ she thought grimly.

"Surely by now you have noticed the presence of ultra-strong Heartless in the worlds," the councilor began.

"The Chasers," Riku finished, and Danthus looked surprised.

"I see there is little to explain," he murmured. "The Eternal Kingdom has long been a target for these Chasers, we still do not know why. Their attacks are concentrated here, whether a remnant of Xehanort's wishes or not. The Watch has long battled them, and until now, have kept the city from harm.

"But we cannot hold out forever," Danthus went on. "The Watch has taken heavy casualties, and the Chasers seem to appear from nowhere. They pour into the Kingdom like locusts into a field. We have grown desperate enough to petition other worlds for aid."

"And that's where we come in?" Riku guessed.

Danthus nodded gravely. "We have sent messages to Radiant Garden, Disney Castle, and Destiny Islands, asking for help. Though it unmans me to beg on bended knee, I cannot deny the bitter truth. If this continues, the Chasers will break into Kingdom City in a matter of days."

_Days?!_ Bruixe thought, shocked. _They left it this late?_

"I also asked Terra to bring me the new Keyblade masters personally," he continued.

"You don't need to," Riku said dismissively. "Sora'll come, and Mickey can't say no either."

"As I had hoped," Danthus allowed. "I would like to ask the two of you – you are a warrior, my lady, yes?"

In any other circumstances Bruixe would have found this insanely funny. _If only you knew who I really was,_ she thought snidely. _You wouldn't bother asking._ But she held in her amusement and nodded.

"I would like to ask the two of you to stand guard outside the Fire Gate," Danthus told them. "Given the Chasers' ability to warp through the dark realm, they could appear at any point in the Eternal Kingdom, though special magic prevents them from entering the city. The only way they could enter is through the four gates."

Riku held up a hand. "Question," he said. "You do know that the Chasers will be drawn to my heart, and Sora's and Kairi's if they come?"

Danthus' brow furrowed. "Explain."

Quickly, Riku summarized the journals that he and Bruixe had read, explaining how the Chasers were drawn to especially strong hearts. "If we stand guard at a gate, the Chasers will probably be drawn to that gate," he told Danthus.

"But why the city?" Bruixe mused, her first time speaking since they'd entered the Citadel. "There aren't any strong hearts there, right? At least, not as strong as yours."

"My guess would be that the sheer number of hearts in Kingdom City draws them," Terra said. "We are the largest world in existence, after all." A glint appeared in his eye. "You might have something there."

"Terra is in charge of tactics," Danthus explained as the Liberator went to a shelf and pulled out a map of the Eternal Kingdom, rolling it out on the table.

"Here's the plan," he said. "Danthus and I will command the Citadel. The Earth Gate is the most accessible – the Chasers have the entire Masters' Expanse to occupy from that angle. But it's also the most defensible. The Watch can cover that gate. The next weakest spot is the Desert of Keul, south of the city. The Fire Gate is there. How many are coming, sir?"

Danthus shook his head. "We've received definite notice of six – King Mickey and two advisors, and three from Radiant Garden. Still no notice from Destiny Islands."

"You won't get notice," Riku told him. "Messages come in through the ocean, but there's no way to get word out. But they'll come. Sora never could resist a good adventure."

Terra smiled grimly. "The Wind and Water Gates can be held with very little effort," he informed them. "And given the strength of the warriors that are coming, we should need to station only two warriors on each. Likely the Chasers won't even try to come in those ways, but just in case, we might put the arrivals on those gates."

"Why won't they try to go that way?" Bruixe wanted to know.

Terra looked at Riku. "I'm guessing that your friends from Destiny Islands have hearts as strong as yours?"

Riku nodded.

"If your hearts draw the Chasers as you say, we need only station you somewhere that the Chasers can collect where they won't be a threat," Terra explained. "Somewhere like the desert."

"No," Danthus said firmly. "I cannot allow that. Putting outsiders out as bait? It will be suicide. The Chasers will overwhelm them with sheer force of numbers."

"I think you're underestimating us," Riku said confidently. "Did you know Sora once single-handedly defeated over a thousand Heartless? And I destroyed an army of Nobodies after we killed Xemnas. Bruixe here is no pushover, either." Bruixe rolled her eyes at his bragging, but she couldn't deny he had a point.

"You will agree to this?" Danthus asked incredulously. Riku shrugged.

"What if Kairi was up in the Citadel with you two?" he suggested. "Sora will never let her fight on the ground. If she was with the Watch, Chasers would be drawn to the Earth Gate too, and you already said it's the most defensible. If we can draw them to two gates, we can split their forces between us. Sora, Bruixe and I will fight in the desert, and Kairi can help you guys at the Citadel. She's a pretty good healer, you know."

Terra gave Danthus a long look. "It could work," he pointed out.

Danthus shook his head. "You are in charge," he said. "Give the order, and we will do it."

Terra looked up at Riku and Bruixe. "Your friends will arrive in a day or so. In the meantime, make any preparations you need to. We're going to war."


	23. Apology

Funny enough, I thought up this chapter at like one in the morning the other night when I couldn't sleep, and yes, I actually tried counting Nobodies

Funny enough, I thought up this chapter at like one in the morning the other night when I couldn't sleep, and yes, I actually tried counting Nobodies. You know you're a freak when…

Bruixe goes a little emo in this chapter. Just a little heads up. Don't worry, she only wallows in self-pity for a few paragraphs, then it's done, I promise.

The chapters just keep getting longer. It's like, they take up about a notebook page and a half, and I'm like, _that's too short_, and then it turns into this four-page monstrosity. Hope you guys don't mind.

Oh, and here's a little trivia question that I'm sure someone will get. What game is the line 'Death will be my apology' from, and what character says it? No, you won't get a prize, I just want to see if anyone else knows. Review, please!

Okay. I'm done. Enjoy.

* * *

Bruixe lay in a real bed that night, the first time since she'd stayed at Kairi's. Danthus had given her and Riku each their own room. Hers was small, just a bed, a desk, and a rug, but the bed was soft and the room was warm.

But she was surprised to find that she couldn't sleep without Riku's even breathing nearby. The silence was deafening. Even though it had only been a few nights, she'd grown accustomed to his calming presence. Bruixe stared at the ceiling, counting Nobodies in a desperate attempt to fall asleep, wishing clouds could come and shut the stars up so it wasn't so bright in here. _Bright? _she thought randomly. _I can barely even make out the wall._

She'd counted up to 157 Nobodies when a light knock sounded at her door. She sat bolt upright in bed, straining to see through the darkness as Riku quietly slipped through the door, clutching a pillow and a blanket.

Bruixe's stomach did a flip; all thoughts of sleep had been forgotten. "What are you doing?" she hissed softly. "It's like, one o'clock in the morning."

He shrugged. "Couldn't sleep. It's too quiet, you know? It's okay, I'll sleep on the floor… you don't mind, do you?"

Bruixe snorted. "Nah. I was just thinking the same thing," she admitted.

He punched the pillow into shape and stretched out on the rug, locking his hands behind his head. Bruixe thought back to their first night in the Between and wondered again whether he'd used her as a pillow on purpose.

"You okay?" Riku asked after a while. "I mean, this war and all."

"I guess," she replied, flopping back on her pillow, curling to face him.

"It's weird… all we wanted was to find your heart, and now we're all mixed up in a battle way bigger than both of us."

"You don't have to fight," she told him.

"Neither do you," he pointed out.

Bruixe didn't answer.

"Right?" Riku pressed.

"I've been thinking about it for a long time," she said. "Ever since we read Ansem's journals. I… it's my responsibility."

"What, because your father created them?" he asked incredulously. "You'll fight to clean up a mess you didn't make?"

"If I don't, no one will," Bruixe argued.

"Someone would," he disagreed. "That's really dumb. You said you didn't like people judging you for your father, but here you are risking your life to carry out your 'responsibility'." He spat the word like it was something dirty. "You could die out there!"

"If I die… it will be my apology," she said sadly.

Riku sat up and stared at her.

"For what I am… what I've done… if I give my life to atone, it will be an apology for my life before this," Bruixe continued.

"So now you're feeling sorry for yourself," he snarled angrily. "I didn't come here to listen to you pout."

"I never asked you to follow me," she retaliated, sitting up to argue face-to-face. "You could leave if you wanted."

He shook his head, coming to sit next to her on the bed. "You just don't get it, do you.

Bruixe looked away, trying to avoid his sudden intense blue-green gaze, but Riku grabbed her chin roughly in one hand. "Listen to me," he said softly. "I'm not leaving. If you stay, I stay. If you go, I go. But as long as we're staying, I'm not going to let you throw your life away. Who cares what you've done? I've done my share of crappy things too. We can't change that. All we can do is try and make the future better… and you can't do that if you're dead."

"Yeah," Bruixe whispered, beginning to regret her fit of self-pity. "I guess… I guess you're right."

"Promise me something?"

"What?" she asked.

"Promise me you won't do anything stupid," he told her firmly. "No apologies. Promise me you won't let yourself die out there tomorrow."

"I promise," she said, and meant it.

Riku smiled. "That's the Bruixe I know."

Then he seemed to realize he was still holding her chin, and dropped his hand hastily, standing up. A peculiar look crossed his face.

"What?" she wanted to know.

"Nothing," Riku said, then bent down and softly kissed her forehead. "Good night." He returned to his makeshift bed on the floor.

"'Night," she said, glad that he had turned and couldn't see the broad smile spreading across her face.

* * *

The next morning Bruixe was awakened by a loud bang and a stream of curses. Her eyes snapped open.

"Riku, you sneaking bastard!" yelled a familiar voice.

Riku grinned up at Bruixe from the floor. "Sora's here," he said matter-of-factly.

Apparently the Keyblade master had slammed open the door and tripped over Riku's sleeping form, crashing headlong into the wall – hence the cursing.

"Should've known you'd be in here," Sora said accusingly.

Riku held his hands up in denial, grinning. "Hey, nothing happened," he laughed.

Kairi appeared in the doorway, smiling. "Hi, Bruixe," she said, folding herself cross-legged onto the bed as the boys wrestled on the floor. "Councilor Danthus told us where your rooms were," she continued, "but when Riku wasn't in his, we figured he was with you."

"It wasn't like that," Bruixe said hurriedly. "It was just too quiet – neither of us could sleep –"

"I believe you," the redhead promised. "But you know boys… Sora will never let him forget this…"

"Why are you on the floor? She kick you out?" Sora asked obnoxiously. "Are you that bad? Ow!" His stream of questions had been interrupted by Riku's fist.

"Hey!" Bruixe barked, and everyone looked at her. "Now that we're all here, let's go report. Big day today."

* * *

A crowd greeted them in the conference room. King Mickey was there, with a duck and a dog Bruixe could only assume were Donald and Goofy, along with Leon, Yuffie, and a crimson-eyed woman who Sora introduced as Tifa. Danthus motioned them all to sit down, nodding to Terra.

"I'll make this quick," said the Liberator. "I have stationed small battalions of Watchmen at each gate. The majority of our forces will be here at the Citadel, manning the ballistae and catapults.

"Tifa, Yuffie, you will command the forces at the Wind Gate. His Majesty and Leon will take the Water Gate. Donald, Goofy, you will defend the Fire Gate," Terra continued. "Kairi, Danthus and I will man the Citadel; Sora, Riku, Bruixe, you will be stationed in the southern desert, as we discussed before.

"Supplies and armor for those who would like them can be found in the main armory," he finished. "Remember, the lives of your comrades and the civilians are in your hands. May the fates be with you."

Once they had been dismissed, Terra led Sora, Bruixe and Riku to the armory. "It pains me that I cannot spare soldiers to support you, but our numbers are short."

Sora shrugged. "We work better alone."

Bruixe could tell from his quick glance at her that Sora's idea of 'alone' included only him and Riku, but she let it slide. _At least he's not bitching at me anymore,_ she conceded.

"Plate armor?" Riku said skeptically as he looked around the room.

"It's not that bad," Bruixe told him. "Kingdom armor is strong, and not as heavy as it looks. Besides, it's better than getting chopped into pieces."

Terra sized them up before pointing them to various sets of armor. Bruixe helped the boys with their shoulder plates before donning her own; the pieces strapped in the back and could be difficult to reach.

As she slipped into her silver-and-gold plated armor, Terra picked up her helm, turning it over in his hands.

"Hey, I'm gonna need that," Bruixe told him lightly.

He gave her a long look. "This was Aqua's armor."

Bruixe wasn't sure what to say to that. "I can find another, if you –"

"No," Terra told her. "I think… Aqua would have wanted it to be used again. That's why it's here."

He handed her the helm, and for the first time Bruixe noticed a scripted "A" surrounded by a design of waves on the base. "I'll take good care of it," she promised, tucking it under one arm.

"I know, Changeling," he said, ruffling her hair like he'd done when he visited her as a child. "I know."

Bruixe turned to Sora and Riku. "Ready?"

They nodded, and Riku shook his hair out of his eyes. "Let's do this," he said confidently. "Sora, did you tell Kairi to be careful?"

"Something like that," replied his friend, grinning cheekily.

"Thank you, Terra," Bruixe told the big man as they left.

Terra saluted her gravely. "Good hunting… Bruixe."


	24. The Chaser War

* * *

Yes, I finally wrote the chapter. Sorry it's been so long. I was really unmotivated to write this one. Stupid war. If I could skip it, I would. But… I can't. sighs in self-pity So I kind of skipped around, because writing a straight-out war scene is kind of hard. There's only so many inventive ways to kill Chasers.

Lauren, I left you another tidbit.

Anyway, enjoy. And review this time, people! I'm getting like no feedback here.

* * *

"Good day for a fight," Sora remarked.

Bruixe snorted, though she had to admit he was right. The sun was thankfully shielded behind a thick layer of puffy white clouds, and a light breeze tickled the sparse desert plains. The ground was dry, but not too dusty; Bruixe remembered that it was only the beginning of the dry season in the Eternal Kingdom.

"Just don't die," Riku said offhandedly. "'Cause I'm not lugging your fat butt home."

"Gee, thanks," his friend replied.

"Blood is so bad for sand," Bruixe sighed.

Sora almost laughed, then remembered who had made the joke.

"I still don't like you," he said bluntly.

Riku looked as if he was struggling valiantly to hide a grin.

"Hate to break it to you, buddy boy," Bruixe told Sora, "but you're gonna have to get over it."

"Temporary truce," Sora offered.

Bruixe snickered. "Whatever gets you to sleep at night, kid."

He grunted instead of replying, jamming his helmet onto his head and drawing his Keyblade.

"Company," he said, pointing a finger to the south.

Bruixe turned to look and saw a horde of Chasers on the horizon. "Gentlemen, it's been a pleasure," she said grimly, donning her helm. Riku did the same beside her. "Chasers," Bruixe muttered to herself. "Had to be Chasers."

Then Sora was running across the cracked, dry plain, and a second Keyblade appeared out of nowhere in his hand.

"How come he gets two?" Bruixe grumbled, scowling.

"He's special," Riku muttered back.

"I heard that," Sora yelled as Bruixe and Riku took off after him, towards the black cloud of Chasers.

The rest of the battle passed in a haze for Bruixe.

* * *

She remembered being envious of the effortless way Sora and Riku fought together, covering each other and moving as if they were one entity. Riku's dark magic rippled across the desert like lightning, blasting Chasers from all sides.

* * *

She remembered hearing Riku yell and turning in time to see Sora's Keyblade flying through the air, its bearer falling, weighed down by the sheer number of Chasers. Bruixe moved automatically, blasting as many as she could with explosions of twilight, Fallen Angel singing as it whirled through the air. Riku was right behind her, hacking and slashing, darkness swirling around him as he fought to protect his friend. Bruixe heard rather than saw Sora stumble wearily to his feet, mumbling, "Heal," before calling his Keyblade back.

"You all right, man?" Riku panted.

Sora nodded, thumping himself on the breastplate, then threw himself back into the fray.

* * *

She remembered being desperately tired, lifting her hand to blast Chasers with her twilight magic, and nothing answering her call. Utterly spent, she dropped to one knee, and then Riku was there, holding the Chasers off of her. "Easy there," he told her. "You're not done yet, Number Fourteen." She nodded and forced herself to her feet, pushing the exhaustion to a far-off corner of her mind. There would be time to rest later.

* * *

She remembered being taken by surprise from behind, a well-placed blow sending her helmet flying across the ground. A torrent of water burst out of nowhere, washing over the horde, and then the Chasers were screaming, and the knot that had been attacking her was suddenly gone. Sora and Riku stared dumbfounded at her for a brief second.

"What the hell was that?" Riku demanded.

"I think it was Aqua," Bruixe said slowly, retrieving the helm and examining the Swordmaiden's emblem. The scripted A sparkled innocently in the cloudy desert light.

"Cool!" Sora exclaimed, siezing the helmet out of her hands. "Go helmet!" he yelled, chucking it at the nearest Chaser. It bounced off the Chaser's arm with an anticlimactic _chink_. Sora looked crestfallen.

"Guess you're just not cool enough," Bruixe said smugly.

It occurred to her that the only other person she knew that used water magic had been Demyx. _Oops,_ she thought. _Guess Waterboy's dead because of me. Not that he was much of a fighter anyway. Wonder if he'd even have made it through this._

* * *

She remembered being backed up against Sora and Riku, the three of them completely surrounded. "Heartless War's got nothin' on this," Sora remarked.

"Welcome to the big leagues," Riku told him. "Real warriors fight Chasers."

"Shut up and fight," Bruixe ordered them, and shoved them towards the black army.

The sun seemed to freeze in the sky; the minutes felt like hours. For every Chaser Bruixe destroyed, two more stepped in to take its place. Her armor was dented in more placed than Bruixe could count; the pain from her wounded shoulder dulled in comparison to the fresh bruises that covered her skin. Somewhere in the battle, a Chaser had managed to wedge its claw into the gap between Bruixe's leg plates, and she was forced to fight in one place, favoring the wounded leg, staining the sand around her red with the blood from the wound. Dimly she realized that she wouldn't last much longer on one leg, and she wondered how much longer the onslaught could last.

Then, all of a sudden, it was over.

Riku sliced cleanly through the throat of the last Chaser, and the creature screamed its death wail. He looked up. "Did we get 'em?"

"Looks like it," Bruixe said, scanning the horizon. "Not a Chaser in sight."

She let herself fall backwards onto the ground, exhaustion making her limbs tremble. Her leg throbbed, and she knew there was sand in it, but she couldn't bring herself to care.

"I'm gonna go check on Kairi," Sora said worriedly, then took off towards the Citadel.

"How does he have the energy to run?" Bruixe wondered aloud.

"No idea," Riku answered. He squatted next to her. "I think he's jealous. I got more Chasers than him."

Bruixe laughed tiredly, then sat up. "Boys," she groaned. "Everything is bragging rights to you."

Riku looked as if he were about to reply, but his face froze in a mask of horror, his eyes fixed on a point behind Bruixe. In the next instant he has shoved her to the ground, and she glimpsed a writhing black form before he head hit a rock, stars winking in front of her eyes.

When her vision cleared, she became horribly aware.

Riku was gone.

* * *

Nooo! Riku! Gone!

Yay cliffhangers. Guess you'll just have to wait for the next chapter. Mwa hahahaha!


	25. Nobody or Not

Minor POV change this time. You'll figure it out. I have faith in you.

I've got a feeling this one will be pretty long. Well, at least, long as far as my chapters go.

Once again, I own EXACTLY ONE character in this fanfic, which is Bruixe. Only Lauren has permission to use her. Everything else belongs to Square Enix. Dangit. I want Riku…

Oh, and when Bruixe goes into the realm of nothingness, I meant it to be like the place where the final boss of KH2 is. You know, where it's all white and grey and nothing-y.

Anyway, enjoy.

* * *

For the third time in his life, he was floating.

The first time had been in darkness, the comforting sleep of the dark. A voice had called to him, waking him from slumber, and he had gained a great power.

The second time was in the light, a radiance so great he'ds thought he would die. But Namine had come to him, as Kairi…

Kairi… Sora…

Bruixe…

The names echoed dimly through his memory, like a far-off voice.

This time – floating – was different. Time seemed to slow… he couldn't move, not even to open his eyes. He didn't even want to. He just wanted to rest… to float here, in the nothingness, where it was peaceful.

Was this what it was like to fade?

The nothingness dragged at his body… he was so tired…

"Riku!" Bruixe yelled desperately.

Her exhaustion from the battle was gone, replace by pure panic. "Riku!" she cried again.

Ansem the Wise's words echoed through her mind: _Any heart captured by the Chasers would dwell in the realm of nothingness for eternity._

"No," she whispered. Nothing could release hearts from the realm of nothingness, because Xehanort was dead, and only he had known how.

Thinking about her father jarred her memory.

"_I couldn't let those Council fools disrupt my work," answered Xehanort. "Hmph. Executing me isn't enough. Even in death, my legacy must continue. And who better to carry it on than my darling daughter?"_

"_Shut up," Bruixe growled. "I'll never do anything for you."_

_Xehanort laughed again. "You won't be able to resist," he told her softly. You crave power. The power to conquer your demons… the power to repair your shattered past… the power to undo your dark deeds…" His yellow eyes gleamed with anticipation. "You can have all this, and more. Take up my blade, Bruixe."_

_He held out a hand, and his Keyblade formed in his grip. He stabbed it into the sand; its black-and-silver hilt sparkled in the starlight._

"_Take it," he said. "And with it, take your destiny into your own hands. Are you strong enough? I give you my strength, daughter."_

_Then he was gone. Bruixe looked around wildly, but suddenly iron aroms froxe her in place. One white-gloved hand held her jaw clamped shut; the other pinned her arms to her sides._

"_So that you will continue my legacy," Xehanort's voice whispered in her ear. Tendrils of ice seemed to flow through his fingers into Bruixe's body. She struggled to escape, but her strength failed her, and she knew no more._

"Xehanort!" Bruixe screamed.

And then her father was there, as she knew he would be, the same smirk etched upon his features, the same demonic glint in his yellow eyes. She leveled Fallen Angel at his throat.

"You called, dear one?" Xehanort said.

"How do I get into the realm of nothingness?" Bruixe demanded.

Xehanort's smile widened. "I thought you'd never ask."

He was at her side without appearing to have moved; siezing her sword arm, he forced Fallen Angel through the air. A portal appeared, nothing more than a gash in reality, the very edges of the worlds rent asunder.

"Welcome to your empire, daughter," Xehanort whispered, and then Bruixe was falling through the portal.

* * *

Inside the realm of of nothingness, the endless expanses of chaos seemed to flow around her, disturbed by her presence. Light seemed to emanate from apparently nowhere, bathing everything in a too-harsh, eerie glow.

It was creepy, but Bruixe didn't think being here was torture like Ansem had written – just unsettling. _Maybe it doesn't affect me because I don't have a heart,_ she thought grimly.

"Riku?" she called, and her voice fell surprisingly flat, dead in the non-air. _How did my father find anyone in here? _she wondered, then held up Fallen Angel again, an idea forming.

The tip of the blade glowed, and a beam of light shot through the nothingness, illuminating a patch of whitish-grey floor. In the light sprawled a familiar-looking figure clad in silver armor.

"Riku!" Bruixe's face was flooded with relief as she rushed to his side, dropping to her knees, turning him face-up with some difficulty.

His eyes were closed as if sleeping, his face unearthly pale; his skin was cool to the touch. "Riku, wake up," she whispered. He was not dead, could not be, she would not believe it – and then she saw his chest rise and fall, minutely, but at least he was breathing. "Please wake up," she repeated, but nothing happened.

Cursing, she ripped Fallen Angel through the air to open another protal, hauling Riku's limp form through. She blinked in the fading sunset of the Eternal Kingdom, relieved to be once more in a place that made sense.

No sooner had the portal closed behind them than Riku's eyes flickered. Bruixe was at his side in an instant, cradling his head in her lap.

Riku opened his eyes fully, and Bruixe took comfort in their piercing blue-green. "Hey there," she said softly.

He blinked, smiling to himself as if having a good dream. "Hey," he said hoarsely. His brow furrowed in pain. "What's wrong?" Bruixe asked uncertainly.

He shook his head minutely and croaked, "Shoulder."

"I'll go get help," Bruixe offered, but Riku shook his head again.

"'S not that bad," he said. "Stay."

"Masochist," Bruixe muttered, but he was already out again, breathing evened in sleep. She unbuckled his shoulder plates, pushing the sleeve of his vest off his arm; a nasty gash spread across his shoulder and arm. He'd been right – it wasn't deep, only long, but Bruixe dressed it with Kairi's spare bandages anyway, thankful that the healer had thought to send them off with medical supplies.

She unbuckled the rest of his armor as well as her own, letting the metal plates fall to the ground. She realized her leg was still bleeding, and dressed that too.

When Riku opened his eyes again, he looked fully awake. He tried to sit up, but fell back against her legs. "Easy," she told him.

"What happened?" Riku asked.

Bruixe shook her head, not trusting herself to answer fully without her voice cracking. "Chaser," she replied. "I was worried about you."

"Sorry," he said automatically.

"Don't be," she told him. "You saved me."

"I did?"

Bruixe smiled. "Some savior," she joked feebly. "Can't even remember what he did."

He closed his eyes. "My body feels heavy."

"You were in the realm of nothingness," she said. "That's probably why.

"You found me?" Riku asked.

She nodded silently.

"But the nothingness didn't affect you."

"Because I'm a Nobody," Bruixe said softly. "I belong there."

Riku sat up suddenly, all traces of weariness apparently gone, and gripped her roughly by the shoulders. "I don't believe that," he told her fiercely. "You don't belong there. You have a place somewhere, even if you don't know it. You can be somebody. You can be you. Nobody or not."

His face softened, and Bruixe saw the sincerity in his eyes. "I want to be somebody," she whispered. "But I don't know how."

"Bruixe," he sighed, shaking his head. "You just don't get it, do you."

Then his lips were on hers, moving with a gentleness she wouldn't have expected. Caught by surprise, she gradually relaxed, winding her arms around him, pulling him closer, burying herself in his warmth. Riku cradled her face in his hands, drawing back to look into her silver eyes before kissing her again.

* * *

"I've been thinking," Riku said.

"Mm. Dangerous," Bruixe murmured.

The stars were beginning to appear in the sky over the mountains, bathing the Eternal Kingdom in soft light. Bruixe lay with her head on Riku's chest, wrapped in his good arm, gazing up at the evening sky.

Riku laughed. "About what you said before – not knowing where you belong."

She didn't reply, only tilted her head to look at him. He wore a peaceful expression, his face taking on a childlike, innocent appearance as he looked at the stars.

"I mean, I didn't know…" he went on. "Well, if you wanted…" It was the first time Bruixe had ever heard him lost for words, and she stifled a grin. "I was thinking… you could always come back with me – with us, to the island. After we find your heart, I mean."

Bruixe laced her fingers through his, then whispered, "I'd like that."

"Really?" he said excitedly before he could stop himself, and Bruixe laughed.

"It's not as if I have anywhere else to go, kid," she told him.

"Kid?" Riku repeated. "I'm older than you."

"Doubtful," she disagreed. "How old are you? Twelve?"

"Oh, funny," he said, feigning hurt. "Sixteen."

"Nope, I win. Seventeen."

"Dang," he sighed. "Thought I had you there.

"Go for the older women, why don't you," Bruixe teased.

He laughed again, grinning Bruixe's favorite boyish smile.

"I'm confused," Bruixe admitted when his laughter had subsided.

"About what?" Riku wanted to know.

"Well…" She wasn't really sure how to say this. "When I'm with you… I laugh – a lot – and I feel happy. But sometimes sad, too, even angry… feelings I shouldn't have without a heart. Feelings that came back when I met you. If I'm a Nobody – I know, I know, it doesn't matter," she added hastily – "If I'm a Nobody, how can I feel those things? Maybe my heart's closer than I thought."

"Maybe," he murmured, bringing her hand to his lips. "Who knows? When we find your heart, we'll figure it out."

"I guess so," she sighed.

Riku sat up and leaned over her, his face barely an inch from her own. "A little impatient?" he asked, voice seductively low.

"Is that bad?" Bruixe replied breathlessly.

"Maybe not," he amended, and bent down to kiss her again.

* * *

Bruixe woke in the morning to find Sora gazing accusingly down at her and Riku. She elbowed Riku in the side, and he blinked groggily. "Oh, shit," he cursed.

"Having fun?" Sora mocked.

"Yes," Riku answered, rolling over and curling both arms around Bruixe, sending shivers down her spine. "Go away."

Kairi giggled. Sora crossed his arms. "Well, I guess that's good, because we were going to leave without you. But I guess you have better things to do than come home. Well, you just enjoy yourself. Kairi and I are leaving." He grabbed Kairi's hand and the two of them started back for the city.

"Later," Riku muttered. Bruixe laughed and shoved him off her playfully. "C'mon," she said. "Your island, remember? Aqua's key, finding hearts, any of this ring a bell?"

"Vaguely," he replied. "Hey! Kairi had that key…"

Then he seemed to think better of it. "Let's wait till we get home," he decided. "Rest up a bit. After all, we just fought a freaking war."

"Home," Bruixe repeated softly, letting the word roll off her tongue. "Yeah. Home…"

Riku pulled her to her feet. "Home for all of us," he told her.


	26. A Key, a Castle, and a Card

Disclaimer. Yeah. You know the drill.

We're nearing the end here, and I finally figured out a way to end this. So you can count on four, maybe five more chapters tops.

Alright. Let's do this. Enjoy…

* * *

"I can't take it anymore," Bruixe growled.

"Relax," Riku said. "Kairi's doing the best she can."

He and Sora were sparring on the beach again, neither one making any progress against the other, both panting with exertion. Bruixe paced the length of the beach, brooding. Kairi had decided to stay back in town, claiming to feel 'sorta sick'. Privately, Bruixe thought she just didn't want to watch the boys fight again.

Bruixe scuffed the sand with the heel of one boot, shoving her hands in her pockets. "Yeah, well, when you say, 'I'm sure Kairi still has it,' to me that means Kairi can call it up whenever she wants."

"Maybe it doesn't work that way," he replied, blocking a well-placed strike to his head. "Ansem wrote that that Keyblade gets lost a lot, right? No one keeps it for long. Maybe it's moved on to a new wielder or something."

"In other words, we may never find it," Bruixe grumbled.

"Don't say that," Riku said cheerfully, tossing his Keyblade to the sand.

"Coward," Sora muttered. Riku ignored this.

"Look on the bright side," he said. "All we have to do is find this Keyblade to get to your heart. We just… hit a little snag."

"It's been five days," she reminded him.

He shrugged.

"How'd she get the key in the first place?" Bruixe asked.

"Riku gave it to her," Sora replied. "It was weird. I mean, Kairi, fighting… weird. Really weird."

"And how'd he get it?" Bruixe prodded.

"I dunno," Riku shrugged again. "Let's see… we were in Xemnas's castle, and Kairi was trying to fight… and I remember thinking, 'she needs a weapon'… and then it was in my hand, and I just sort of handed it to her. That was all."

"So you called it, not her," Bruixe said slowly.

He nodded.

"Which means it's really… yours?" she wondered aloud.

He cocked his head. "Never thought of it that way." He held out a hand and furrowed his brow for a minute, then said, "Nope, nothing."

Sora snickered. Bruixe kicked the sand again.

"Maybe it only shows up if you really, really need it," Sora suggested.

He still wouldn't look Bruixe in the eye, but at least he wasn't insulting her every chance he got. It was a nice change.

"Yeah, so let's go find a random army of Heartless somewhere," Riku said sarcastically. "Sounds fun."

"Yeah, it does," Sora told him. "Or do you want to spend the rest of your life sparring on the beach? Coward. You need an adventure, man."

" 'The rest of your life' is looking pretty short if you keep calling me coward," Riku threatened his friend playfully. "And besides, I've had enough adventure for a while. Or maybe you forgot – we were in a FREAKING WAR."

"And still no heart," Bruixe muttered.

"Maybe it only worked 'cause I was using Ansem's body," Riku mused.

"Yeah, do that again," Sora laughed. "Cause that was fun. Not."

"You're telling me," Riku agreed.

"I give up," Bruixe said, plopping in the sand. "Who needs a heart, anyway?"

At that moment Sora flung out a hand, pointing at the dock. Kairi was climbing out of her boat, a grin spreading across her face. The cause of the grin was clutched in one hand – a flowery-looking Keyblade, shorter and lighter than the ones Bruixe or the boys used. Ephemeral Light, Ansem had called it.

"I found it!" Kairi said excitedly.

"No, really?" Riku joked.

Bruixe rushed the redhead and crushed her into a big bear hug. "You are the best," she said. "Ever. No, really. I mean it. New best friend, right here."

"Can't – breathe –" Kairi choked.

"Sorry," Bruixe said hastily, letting her go.

"How'd you get it?" Sora wanted to know.

Kairi shrugged. "I don't really know," she admitted. "I was just thinking about Bruixe… and how sad it was that she couldn't find her heart because of me… and then I made up my mind that I was going to find this stupid Keyblade, no matter what. And then all of a sudden it was in my hand."

"Determination?" Riku wondered.

"Who cares?" Bruixe said. "Helloooo! Heart-finding time!"

"I'm not really sure how this works," Kairi told them, fidgeting with the Keyblade's charm, an orange flower.

"Just hold it out and wait for something to happen," Sora suggested. "That's what I do. And then it looks like I meant to do it."

Riku snickered.

Kairi held out the Keyblade and touched the tip to Bruixe's chest, right where her heart would be. There was a flash of light, and then the Keyblade was spinning, whirling so fast it appeared to be a multi-colored blur. When it finally stopped, it pointed directly at Riku.

"What?" Riku whispered.

The other three stared at him for a few seconds, then Sora finally said, "I think I know what this is."

"Do tell," Bruixe said irritably. "It's not like we want to know or anything."

"Easy," Sora shot back. "I think… well, when Kairi lost her heart, it went to me… and when I lost my heart, it went to Kairi. Maybe… your heart's been in Riku all this time."

"Ooookay… this is weird," Riku said, looking down at his chest. "Um… so how does she get it back?"

Sora shrugged. "How'm I supposed to know? When I got close to Kairi, it just sort of happened. I think there must be something else wrong."

_Did you really think it would be that easy?_

Bruixe tensed, looking around. "Not again," she said.

"What?" Riku asked.

_A heart is not to be trifled with._

"Did you guys hear that?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

Kairi frowned. "Hear what?"

"Just my messed-up head again, I guess," Bruixe muttered, half to herself.

_The decision to give it up cannot be undone so easily,_ said Xehanort's voice inside her head.

_I didn't DECIDE to give it up,_ Bruixe thought angrily. _You and your stupid 'legacy' got in the way._

Xehanort's voice fell silent.

_Wait. In the way…_

"I think I got it," Bruixe said aloud.

"What?" Riku asked.

"Ever since I started looking for my heart, I've been having these really messed up… I don't know, hallucinations or something. Only they're real… sort of." Bruixe said quickly, the words falling over each other in her haste to say them. "These visions of my father. Of Xehanort the Cruel. The first time, he showed up and gave me my Keyblade… and the second time, he got me into the realm of nothingness to save Riku. Maybe… maybe he's in the way… and I can't get my heart back until he's out of my head. Until he's really gone."

_I give you my strength, daughter,_ Xehanort had said. _So that you will continue my legacy._

"Damn you," Bruixe muttered. She looked up. "That's it, I'm sure of it. Until I beat Xehanort… I'll never get my heart back."

"How are you supposed to do that?" Sora asked. "Isn't the guy already dead?"

Riku's eyes lit up. "I can help you there."

* * *

"This is it," said Riku.

Bruixe looked up. The door was huge, towering over them both. It was made of white marble, like everything else in the enormous room; stone carvings of roses decorated the surface. There were no handles.

"How do I open it?" she asked.

Riku snorted. "You were in the Organization, and you don't know how Castle Oblivion works?"

"Hey, I've never actually been here," Bruixe said defensively. "Only the nutjobs hung out here. Vexie, Zexie, Lexie… and that creep Marluxia, and his pet bitch Larxene? Can you blame me for keeping my distance? Axel's the only one who made it out alive after the Castle Oblivion fiasco."

"And it was really his fault it was a fiasco," Riku added.

"True," Bruixe agreed. "Good ol' Axel. Never could resist a good show. Now. Door. Open. Let's go."

Riku reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, paper-thin object.

"What's that?" Bruixe wanted to know.

"A card," he told her. "You want to go anywhere in this place, you need cards to open the doors. This particular card just so happens to draw out a person's darkness and give it physical form. This is what I used two years ago, when I fought Ansem – I mean, Xehanort's Heartless. Don't know why I kept it, really… but I guess it's a good thing I did."

Bruixe took the card. "So what, I just hold it up and –"

The door opened without a sound.

"Creepy," Bruixe muttered, suddenly nervous. She had thought she'd like nothing better than to fight her father, but now that she actually had to do it – she hated to admit it, but she was afraid.

Riku noticed. "Hey, don't worry," he said. "It'll be okay. You got this." He pulled her into a tight hug.

"I'm afraid," she whispered.

"Get used to it," Riku murmured into her hair. "One of those annoying feelings, you know. Comes with having a heart. Hey, relax. You'll be fine."

"You're not coming?"

Riku gave her a long look. "Do you want me to?"

"I…" Bruixe thought about it, folding her arms. Finally, she sighed. "No," she said. "I guess… I have to do this alone, don't I? Because if I don't… I'll never know if I was strong enough to go alone. It has to be me. Just me."

"Not alone," Riku told her. "Well… just temporarily alone. Not for long."

"Yeah," Bruixe replied. "Thank you, Riku, for everything. And I…"

"Enough," he said. "Tell me after you kick Xehanort's slimy ass."

Bruixe had to laugh at that.

"Hey, Bruixe. I had a thought," Riku told her. "Your Keyblade… it used to be Xehanort's, right? So you might not be able to use it."

This hadn't occurred to Bruixe. "Shit," she cursed.

"No worries," Riku said. He held out a hand and summoned Soul Eater, flipping it over and offering it to her, hilt-first. "Take it."

Bruixe was shocked. "Riku, I can't –"

"Sure you can," he said. "You can't fight without a weapon, and I don't need this right now. And if I give it to you willingly, it won't try to come back to me, right? So you can use it. Temporarily," he added. "I'll want it back. And once you beat Xehanort, you'll get Fallen Angel back."

"…Okay," Bruixe said, taking the Keyblade. It was heavier than her own, and longer, but not overly so. Somehow, she felt stronger holding it. "It's like… I'm borrowing your strength or something."

"You have your own strength too," Riku reminded her, crushing her into another hug. "There's more of it than you think. Be careful. Be strong. I know you will."

Bruixe let him hold her for a moment, then took a deep breath and stepped back. "See you in a bit," she said forcefully, more for herself than for Riku, then turned and walked through the door.


	27. My Strength is My Own

Ooh, the big confrontation! What's going to happen? I already know. You'll just have to read and find out. Mwahahaha. Do I really need to put a disclaimer here? Do I really? I don't think so. Just read the chapter already. Jeez.

* * *

The stone halls of Castle Oblivion were eerily silent, the white walls sparkling innocently. Bruixe's booted feet echoed off the marble as she made her way to the center chamber. The weight of Soul Eater in her hand comforted her little against the dark magic she knew she would face.

_How the hell am I supposed to do this?_ she wondered hopelessly. _He's one of the strongest Keyblade masters of all time, and I can't even beat Riku._

Terra, Ven, and Aqua had just barely managed to defeat him, and it killed Ven and nearly destroyed Terra. _I'm just me,_ she thought. _How am I supposed to do this alone?_

But Riku had told her she was stronger than she knew.

_Come, daughter. Come if you dare. Come to your demise._

Xehanort wouldn't just kill her, she knew. He would use her to carry out his foul deeds. To destroy worlds, and devour hearts. Bruixe shuddered. _I won't lose. I can't. Not just for me. But for everyone I know._

The thought of something to fight for gave her a little hope. She nodded to herself and realized that she had come to another door. This one had a tiny keyhole in one side. _Well, that I can handle,_ she thought, and let Soul Eater unlock the door.

Bruixe strode into the central chamber with a confidence that didn't match her confused feelings. Her father was waiting for her, back turned, and Bruixe realized with a jolt that he held Fallen Angel in one gloved hand. The Keyblade seemed so much bigger in his hands, and Bruixe wondered how she'd had the strength to wield it. _I guess it's good I have Soul Eater, _she thought. _Riku…_

_Welcome, daughter,_ Xehanort said.

"Xehanort," Bruixe replied stiffly.

_Nothing to say? How disappointing. And here I was thinking you would be itching to destroy me._

Bruixe said nothing.

_Here is your chance to rid yourself of my curse forever. And yet fear clouds your being. After all I have done for you… you're still a scared little girl._

"All you've done for me?" Bruixe said incredulously. "You left me to the Council's mercy after you went and got yourself killed trying to take over the worlds. You make me sick. You're dead, but you just won't give up. You've got to try and come back, and you've sunk to using me to do it."

"I've given you strength when you had none," Xehanort reminded her.

"I didn't ask for your _strength_," she spat. "I've been getting stronger ever since you disappeared. Yeah, maybe life sucked, but it made me stronger, and where were you? Oh yeah. You were dead."

"I fail to see how giving up your heart made you stronger," he said coldly.

"Yeah, well maybe it didn't," Bruixe admitted. "So I was stupid. From what I've seen, I wasn't the only one. All your strength came from your goddamn forbidden magics. The Chasers? Yeah, they're strong, but your whole army didn't stand a chance against three of us. Three! Call me crazy, but if three people can take down an army, that army must be pretty half-assed."

"You face no army now," Xehanort purred. "You face only me. And you are still afraid. How pathetic. Still a little girl after all."

"I'm stronger now," Bruixe snarled, anger boiling inside her.

"Show me," Xehanort challenged. With that, he sprang at Bruixe. She barely had time to raise her Keyblade before the violet blade met her own.

_He's strong! _Bruixe thought with panic. Xehanort flicked Fallen Angel upward, raking the side of her face and stunning her momentarily.

"_Why so glum, sourpuss?" Axel asked her._

"_Battle," Bruixe muttered. "Fighting, destroying Heartless. Every day, always the same thing. I can't even tell you how many times I've been inches from dying. It's stupid. What's the point?"_

"_There's always a point," Roxas said softly. "We just don't know enough yet. All we know is that collecting hearts is the best chance we've got of finding our own."_

"_Seems pretty hopeless to me," Bruixe said._

"_Don't expect to win much longer, then," Axel told her, smiling his wry grin. "You go into battle thinking it's hopeless, no way you're coming back out. If you find a reason to fight – you go in with hope – you're going to win. I can guarantee that."_

_Roxas grinned. "Wow, Axel, that was deep. I'm surprised."_

"_Just because I screw around doesn't mean I don't have a brain," Axel told him, a little miffed."_

"A reason to fight," Bruixe whispered.

"Had enough?" Xehanort asked. He rushed her again, but this time Bruixe was ready; she knocked aside his attack with Soul Eater, lashing out with a blast of twilight from her left hand. But the magic didn't seem to affect Xehanort; instead of using Fallen Angel again, his fist connected solidly with Bruixe's jaw, and she hit the floor hard, stars winking in front of her eyes.

"Weak," Xehanort told her, kicking her roughly – once, twice, three times. Bruixe choked as the wind left her, struggling to breathe around blood and broken ribs. She rolled over and tried to push herself up, but he held her down with a foot. "In what world could you have ever defeated me? Such a place does not exist. I made you what you are. I gave you your strength. And I can take it back."

"You're wrong," she choked, struggling against his foot, but to no avail. "My strength is my own."

Her father put more weight into the foot, crushing Bruixe into the ground; she could barely breathe. "You have no strength," he spat. "All you had to begin with was the strength of your heart. But you gave that up. You are an empty shell, who will never be whole. Never. Strength? I see no strength in you."

"_How did you do it?" Bruixe asked. "Defeat Ansem, I mean. He was strong enough to take you over the first time. How'd you stop him?"_

_Riku smiled. "I wasn't fighting Ansem – not really. I was fighting the darkness in my heart. And the nice thing about fighting something that comes from you," he said, "is that it can only be as strong as you make it."_

"You're lying," Bruixe said firmly. "If you thought I wasn't strong, you wouldn't bother trying to beat me."

_Riku said I was strong,_ she told herself. _If nothing else…_

"And I think you're scared of me," she added.

Xehanort chuckled. "You're one to talk, little girl."

He kicked her again, but this time Bruixe managed to roll over and seize his leg, throwing him off balance. It gave her the opportunity she needed to push herself up off the floor, and then she was throwing herself at her father with everything she had, hacking and slashing, ignoring the pain screaming from every inch of her body. Xehanort parried every blow, but he was on the defensive, unable to strike a decisive blow. Finally Bruixe flicked Fallen Angel away, and her father backpedaled, hands held up.

"You would throw away my strength as well?" Xehanort pressed. "You know what I offer."

"I see no strength in you," Bruixe mocked. "All I see is a sorry old man who wasn't strong enough to take over the worlds, so he tried to make his daughter do it. Well I won't." She held out a hand, and Fallen Angel came to her. "I'm taking my Keyblade," she spat. "And I'm taking my strength back. And you know what? I'm going to get my heart back, and I'm not gonna let you get in the way."

With that she lunged at her father, running him through with both Keyblades. "You're through," Bruixe growled, and she saw the light leave his eyes as Xehanort the Cruel finally met his end.


	28. Pain

It's almost over… sniff…

It's almost over… sniff…

Look how far we've come, guys… you know, I never really thought I'd finish this thing. I thought I'd get bored. I have a really short attention span. But I'm so into it now that I'm going to be really sad when I write the last chapter… I'll have to come up with another Bruixe story to make myself feel better.

Since I haven't put in a disclaimer in a while, here you go: I in no way own any of the characters except for Bruixe. Bruixe is my own invention and the only other author who has permission to use her is my friend Lauren. (For those of you that haven't, go read A Worthless Nobody by RockOnRose. Her other Kingdom Hearts stuff is good too.)

So, we're on the home stretch… enjoy.

Her first thought was that her whole body ached.

It's not that she wasn't used to pain. But she'd never thought that it could be so numbing, that it could hurt so bad that she couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't think…

Her chest felt like it was ripping apart, pulling in different directions, tearing itself apart from within. Was this death? Was she dying? Nothing else could hurt this bad, she was sure…

_I didn't say goodbye..._

Riku dropped to his knees outside the white door, clutching his chest. The pain had come out of nowhere… like a hole drilled right through him, like a part of him had been taken away. _Bruixe,_ he thought.

He forced himself to his feet.

The thought of _him_ only made the pain worse. She was sure she couldn't take much more… there was a fireball where her heart should be. _If I had a heart._

Then out of nowhere, cool hands touched her face… the pain lessened, a little. "Bruixe," said a familiar exasperated voice.

She opened her eyes.

Riku was there, of course. Riku, who had followed her into danger though he barely knew her. Riku, who had saved her life countless times, who never let her give up, who was always there no matter what.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded weakly. Her throat felt like sandpaper.

"Saving you again," he said, grinning the boyish smile that Bruixe loved. "Duh. What does it look like?"

"I said… I wanted to do it… alone," Bruixe choked.

Riku raised an eyebrow. "You did," he told her softly. "Xehanort's gone. I wouldn't have been able to come in if he wasn't."

Bruixe absorbed this for a moment, then whispered, "My chest hurts."

"Mine too," he said.

It took her a minute to process that.

"Oh!" she said finally, and her hand flew to the fireball inside her chest. A faint _thump-thump_ vibrated through her. _My heart…_

Then the tears started and she couldn't control them, and it felt wonderful, to cry, really cry, and know that it was real and it was her happiness, her joy that brought tears to her eyes.

When she was done, Riku asked her, "Can you walk?"

She was about to answer, but he held up a hand. "You know what? Never mind. You look like hell." He gathered her up into his arms and stood, holding her as easily as a doll.

"I feel dumb," she muttered.

"Get over it," he told her. "We're going home."

Again she felt a thrill at the word 'home', but this time the satisfaction that filled her was real.

"Riku?"

"Yeah?" he replied.

"I'm glad it was you," Bruixe whispered.

He looked down at her, confused.

"My heart found you," she said. "I still don't know why… but I'm glad it found you."

"Hearts have a funny way of being smarter than their owners," Riku said offhandedly. "You didn't know me… but maybe your heart did." He smiled softly. "I'm glad too."

Wow, this one was really short… it's like, a record or something. I'll post again soon.


	29. Things to Clean Up

The last chapter… I can't believe it

The penultimate chapter… (for those of you that didn't just go look that up, it means second-to-last. Don't overwork yourselves.)

Lauren, I left you another present, for old times' sake.

And everyone that hasn't already, you should go read A Worthless Nobody by RockOnRose. I'm not a huge Demyx fan (sorry, Lauren, he's basically a pansy) but this one's pretty good, and you'll get your Bruixe fix near the end. (Although Bruixe is responsible for Demyx's death… hm…)

Enjoy the last chapters. Make the most of them. I know I will.

* * *

"Comfortable?"

Bruixe opened her eyes to see Riku standing over her, smiling.

"Mm-hm," Bruixe told him. She'd been laying like this for who-knew-how-long, sprawled in the sand, boots kicked off, enjoying the warmth of the sun on her skin and the island breeze on her face. The receding tide tickled her bare feet with every wave. "It's nice," she said, squinting up at him. "Even if there aren't mountains."

Riku laughed at that and sat down next to her. "It won't be so nice once you get up and figure out there's sand everywhere." He considered this. "But then, I could help you with that…"

Bruixe punched him.

"Kidding," he amended, rubbing his arm. "Jeez."

Kairi had offered Bruixe the spare room of her house, but truth be told Bruixe couldn't bear that much pink for that long. She'd moved out as soon as she could, living in a little room in the back of the bar where she worked. At first Riku had protested her working with potential drunks, but he couldn't deny it suited her, and Bruixe was the best person the tavernmaster could find for kicking people out. Besides, she wasn't one to listen to people when she had an idea in her head. She had also refused to let her new friends call her 'Rubie', deciding that Bruixe fit her better even if it was a Nobody's name.

"Hey, Riku," she said, sitting up and shaking the sand out of her black hair.

"Yeah?"

"D'you think you can handle a while without me?" she asked.

He cocked his head. "What do you mean?" he asked warily.

Bruixe held up her hands. "I'll come back, promise. It's just that… there's some things I want to do – things to clean up – before I settle down here all the way. And I figured you'd follow me unless I asked nicely… so I'm asking."

"Why can't I come?" Rikku wanted to know.

She smiled softly. "Riku, you… well, I… jeez," she sighed. "How do I say this… Riku, you're the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I've told you about my life so you know I'm not lying. But… just like defeating Xehanort, there are some things I have to do on my own. Cleaning up my own damn mess… and I'm doing it right this time. I will clean this up. But I have to do it alone." Bruixe turned her silver gaze on him, knowing he couldn't say no.

He tried. But in the end, he shook his head. "I understand. No way I wouldn't. Do what you have to do." Riku held her gaze firmly. "But be careful, right? The Chasers may be gone, but who knows what kind of trouble you could get into."

Bruixe didn't even hit him for it. "Thanks," she told him. "Be looking out for me."

"'Till your heart stops beating," Riku said seriously.

* * *

Terra was waiting for her at the entrance to Kingdom City.

"Welcome back, Changeling," he said in his deep, slow voice.

Bruixe crossed her arms. "Well, that's no fun. I was going to surprise you and everything. How'd you know I was coming?"

Terra pointed a finger upwards, towards the Citadel. Bruixe noticed that he no longer wore his giant greatsword, and smiled. Peace had come to the Eternal Kingdom at last.

"I never thanked you for helping us in the war," Terra told them. "You and your friends.. Without you, I fear we would have been destroyed."

Bruixe shrugged. "We couldn't exactly not help," she said.

"Still, Kingdom City thanks you," the big man maintained.

"You're welcome," she allowed.

Terra looked at Bruixe for a long time, peering deep into her silver eyes. Finally he smiled. "I am glad you came back, Changeling," he told her. "You have grown up. You do not have the anger you once carried."

Bruixe returned the smile. "I owe a lot of that to Riku," she said honestly. "Things are changing, Liberator… Terra. I don't have to prove myself anymore. I'm moving on, but I have to fix things here first. Terra, can I ask you a favor?" she wanted to know.

"Anything," Terra answered.

"I need an audience with the Council."

* * *

She looked over their faces, recognizing most of them, but not all. Garrison and Isalena, her former foster parents; Velkin, the man who had tortured her into becoming a Nobody; Aeson, Laurene, and Striask, older now, but still good friends; and of course Danthus, Terra's former master and the commander of the Watch. Others, she knew, must be replacing those who had died. Terra pointed them out as Nester and Rondot, both new to the Council in the last two years.

Bruixe met each pair of appraising eyes before she spoke.

"I know a lot of you probably don't recognize me," she began. "I… well… it's been a while since I've been here, and I've changed… but once upon a time you knew me as Rubesia."

A few gasped; Velkin growled angrily, but Garrison nodded in understanding. Bruixe held up a hand for silence.

"My name is Bruixe, now. I am the daughter of Xehanort the Cruel," she said bluntly, voice steady. "You all thought I was evil. Now that I think about it, I didn't give you much reason to think otherwise. I stole, I lied, I made your lives living hell… and I killed one of your own."

She looked at Velkin now, the man who had loved Demetre.

"I know… I know that my apology means nothing. That there is no way anything I say or do could ever bring her back, or atone for the crimes I committed here. I'm not asking for your forgiveness, even. I just wanted to say… I'm sorry, for everything." She lowered her head for a moment, then looked up again.

"But I wanted you all to know… Xehanort is long dead, and now his Chasers are finally gone too. It's my belief that you'll never need the Citadel again. This world will be peaceful again, like it hasn't since the age of the Keybearers. And I… I've learned that trying to prove myself didn't get me anywhere. I had a chip on my shoulder for a long time, but… I can't live like that anymore. I won't," she said, more forcefully. "You all know I gave up my heart. Well, it took a long time and a lot of hurt… but I've got it back now, and I know what I was missing. So… well, I know it doesn't make anything better. I just… I just wanted you to understand, even if you can't forgive me."

Bruixe fell silent. Her heart was pounding, but she welcomed it; it made her whole.

Finally Isalena spoke up.

"I believe I speak for all of us when I say that your words are meaningless," she said regally.

"I know that," Bruixe whispered. "I –"

"Peace," Isalena interrupted. "As I was saying, your words are meaningless. But your actions… we have all heard the story of your valour in protecting our kingdom. You have proven yourself far beyond what any of us had expected you to. Words may be meaningless… but your actions mark you as a fine young woman… Bruixe."

The Councilors murmured their agreement. Bruixe was speechless. "I – I… thank you," she managed.

Danthus stood.

"I have been a Councilor for longer than any of you," he addressed his fellows. "Therefore the final decision is mine." He turned to Bruixe. "You are not the angry child you once were," he told her. "You even bear a different name… moreover, you are a Keybearer, are you not?"

Bruixe nodded.

"That alone proves your heart," Danthus said gently. "Go in peace, young Bruixe. Do not carry any regret for us."

Bruixe's eyes swam with tears, and she blinked furiously. "Thank you," she whispered again. "Thank you…"

Terra ruffled her hair as she left the Council room. "Well done, Changeling."


	30. Home

Last one sniffle. I can't believe we've come this far… but I'm finally bringing this to an end. Jeez… thirty chapters… Thank you for all of you who have stuck around this long. Thanks to RockOnRose, Siobhan the girl, Blastbone, Xiaska, Forgotten in Darkness, Noble Wielder, and everyone else who reviewed that I might have forgotten… it's been fun, hasn't it? I hope you all have liked it so far, and you'll forgive the end for being a little cheesy.

For all you Guitar Hero players, there's a little bit in here that will probably crack you up. I know I laughed hysterically for ten minutes… then again, I always laugh at my own jokes…

That said… sit back. Relax. Enjoy the last chapter.

* * *

Bruixe's last stop was the World That Never Was.

The dark city was empty as always, but now not even Heartless swarmed here – there was nothing left to attract them. It felt like a graveyard. _Maybe it is,_ she thought.

She paced through the city and up to the castle, tracing the familiar pathways with booted feet that echoed off of every wall. The magical pathway opened for her as always, but Bruixe knew there would be nothing waiting for her inside.

Bruixe made her way through the white-and-grey rooms, reminiscing. _Here's where those damn Snipers tried to kill me first time I came here… and there used to be Dragoons on this elevator, I think. Oh… Twilight's View…_

It was as pretty as she remembered, in its eerie realm-of-nothingness sort of way. Axel used to hang out here, she remembered, leaning against the railings. She climbed the stairs and walked through the big hall where Xigbar used to play target practice, finally coming to what she was looking for.

The three rows of blood-red stones pulsed at her gently, accompanied by Roxas's out-of-place blue stone. Twelve altogether… Bruixe didn't have one, because she joined the Organization after this place was created. Xemnas never had one either, she realized. _But no one liked him anyway…_

She started in the top tier, looking wistfully at the ruined doorway to Xigbar's old room.

"You were pretty cool, for an old guy," she said out loud. "I never did get the chance to ask how you lost that eye… guess I won't ever, now. Goodbye, Xigbar."

She moved on to the next stone. "Xaldin," she sighed. "Not gonna lie, I hated you… but you were one of the strongest guys I knew. Even if you did look like a werewolf with all that hair… you weren't so bad, I guess.

"Vexie," Bruixe chuckled, moving on. "Vexie, Vexie, Vexie. Everything was an experiment with you… and we always got such a kick out of pranking you. You reap what you sow, man.

"Lexaeus," she mused. "I never really talked to you. Then again, you never really talked. You were kinda cool, though… big, badass tomahawk…

"And you always irritated me, Zexie. Never dirtied your own hands… it was kind of pathetic, really, how you always hid behind people… but you knew a lot more than you let on, didn't you, Zexie? You were probably the smartest of us all…"

She kicked the next stone roughly. "Saix," she growled. "The only one I hated more than Xaldin… you used and manipulated all of us, every last one... you were a hell of a brownnoser, too. Barbaric. And I've always wanted to poke you right in the middle of that X scar. But I guess you were one of the strongest… and you never lost sight of your goal. It's more than I can say for myself."

She skipped the next stone, unable to face it yet.

"Demyx," Bruixe sighed wistfully. "I know I always called you a pansy… but you were one of the only ones I liked. Sorry it was me you had to die for… if I had just followed orders, maybe you'd be standing here and not me… but shit happens, doesn't it, Demyx? And… you always thought you were weak, but… I never knew anyone else that could use water magic, and you always kicked our asses at Sitar Hero. You were stronger than you gave yourself credit for… I'll really miss you.

"And of course, there's the charming rogue Luxord," Bruixe said, tracing with a finger one of the only two doorways still left standing "You kinda annoyed me, not gonna lie… but I always loved your accent. And you were right, time is more powerful than I thought. I won't waste it.

"Marluxia… well, what can I say… you were pretty annoying, too. All high-and-mighty… and you were going to betray us, I hear. Not that I can blame you. But the manipulation… and you were so cruel to Namine… but you wanted your heart back. I can't fault you for that.

"Larxene," she sighed. "The Thunderbitch. I guess we never told you that's what we called you… but you were the only girlfriend I had around this place. We were quite a pair, weren't we? Living with men all the time, it's no wonder we turned out such bitches… thanks for making it fun, chica."

The blue stone held her up for a minute.

"Hey, kiddo," she whispered when her mouth worked again. "Been a while… I always liked you, Roxas. Even if you were a naïve little runt… you know, you never looked good in black. I'm glad you found your other… I'll be seeing you around, I guess."

Finally Bruixe couldn't avoid it any longer. She retraced her steps and went back to the eighth stone; she sat down in front of it, looking at the glowing chakram design.

"Axel," she began. "I…"

Her voice broke, and she fell silent for a moment.

"You were my best friend," she said finally. "You found me in the Eternal Kingdom… told me who I was… you offered me a better life than I'd ever had. Even if being a Nobody sucked… you made it better, even if just a little. I'll never forget the days we spent with Roxas and Demyx, just being irresponsible teenagers for a change. You taught me how to take everything in stride… and I guess you never could let someone else take you out, could you? Had to do it yourself… no one else would have been able to, I know. Except maybe Sora… but he's the reason you did it, right Axel? When I met him I couldn't believe it. I resented him, even… because if not for him, you still would've been around. And… I missed you… I still do. But I think I see it now. You knew you weren't getting your heart back… and you decided that if you couldn't be whole, if you had to fade away, you were going to decide how it happened yourself. You were always in control, Axel… so confident. Thank you… for everything. And… goodbye. I'll look out for Roxas for you."

Bruixe was crying now, unable to stem the flow of tears. She forced herself up from the ground and went back to the door to the room, turning so that she could see all the gravestones.

"Proof of Existence, we called this place," she said. "A record that we did exist, even if we weren't supposed to. It's a graveyard now. But it's still proof. Like me. I'm living proof that the Organization existed. And I…" She closed her eyes. "I'll remember you all. I'll tell your stories, to anyone who'll listen. As proof. You – we – may have failed to find Kingdom Hearts, and I still don't understand how it all works. But Roxas found his other… he's whole now, and so am I. So maybe this wasn't all in vain. We had a purpose. We existed."

Bruixe turned to go out the door, then paused. "Goodbye," she whispered over shoulder, then left the World That Never Was forever.

* * *

He was waiting for her. Of course he was.

"Did you clean up?" he asked.

She nodded wordlessly. She knew he would understand.

He held out a hand for her, and she took it gratefully.

"Welcome home," he said.

She smiled softly, and was rewarded by the boyish grin she loved.

"It's good to be home," she said. And it was.


	31. Notice

For all of you doofuses who didn't already know, there's a prequel to The Last Nobody up

For all of you doofuses who didn't already know, there's a prequel to _The Last Nobody_ up. It tells the story of Bruixe's time with the Organization. Go read it. It's called _Silver Eyes,_ id 4327422.

Sorry this wasn't a chapter. You got all excited, didn't you? Sorry, people.


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